Reflection

Cho was instantly glad that Marietta had applied her cosmetic charms first. She was sitting delicately in a room full of women - which included her mother and some of her best friends - who were laughing, gossiping and preening. They were excitedly preparing for Cho's binding. To Cho at that moment, they were too loud, too happy and unwelcome. She'd feel differently in a few minutes, she knew. Cho would want them around then, women who were important to her, women who would help her celebrate the woman Cho was about to become -- a wife, and someday hopefully a mother.

Luckily, Marietta understood Cho's need for a few moments of peace. Marietta knew to keep her secluded from the cackling hens while Cho finished her preparations. With everyone else at a distance and the cosmetic charms firmly in place, only the two of them would know that Cho sat there quietly weeping. It wouldn't have been a problem if they saw her tears. The women would assume that she was crying out of joy, or maybe they'd try to reassure her, assuming they were tears of fear. Every woman goes through those emotions on her binding day; they were expected.

But that wasn't it. That wasn't why she was crying, so Cho didn't want to be comforted, celebrated or hugged. Cho wasn't shedding tears of joy, or fear, or even excitement. They were, Cho hoped, her last tears of grief. Grief over losing someone she loved, grief that reality had become a little too real for her too young. Grief that someone special had left her life forever.

Oh, Cho wasn't foolish enough to believe that she would have been bound to Cedric just based on their short relationship in her fifth year. But things had been going very well when Cedric was murdered. It was too sudden, too unexpected. Cedric's death had made relationships hard for her after that. It had especially made loving someone and trusting they would be around for a future difficult. But she had finally learned to love again. Still, even now - or maybe especially now - when she really was experiencing the most brilliant moments of her life, she still wanted to remember. She wanted to think about Cedric.

That was why Marietta was currently securing the last small, yellow primrose in Cho's hair. No one except Marietta understood why she had argued vehemently for those specific flowers. But Cho wanted to remember; she wanted to think about him and about the House he represented. She wanted to have those memories with her as she was bound.

"You really do look lovely," Marietta said softly, discreetly wiping the invisible tears from Cho's cheeks.

Cho looked up. She closed her eyes, composing herself, only allowing one more tear escape from her left eyelid. "Yes, they were the right decision."

Marietta pulled Cho into a quick, sisterly hug as they linked arms and set across the room to celebration. Cho's eyes lit up as she let herself revel in the joy and excitement of her friends and family.