Time Cannot Erase...

I'm so tired of being here,

Suppressed by all my childish fears,

And if you have to leave,

I wish you would just leave,

Cause your presence still lingers here,

And it won't leave me alone.

Cho entered the barrier of platform nine and three-quarters, attempting to get onto the train as quickly as possible without talking to anyone. She could feel the sympathy creeping in on her from everywhere, suffocating her like a pebble in quicksand. The last thing she wanted was sympathy from anyone on that platform. So she left her luggage with her father, whom had accompanied her on her trip, and hastily boarded the train.

Cho went all the way to the last compartment and sat in there, alone. It was better this way, not being around her peers. And though she was alone, she felt like he was still there, sitting next to her and playing with her hair like he always did. She could hear his teases and catcalls in her mind, feel the way his hands brushed across her shoulders, sending a shiver down her spine. She wanted to scream out so loud, the memories were bittersweet and painful for her. She couldn't handle it and broke down into tears. 'Why won't you just leave me alone Cedric? Why?' she thought to herself, sobbing all the while.

These wounds won't seem to heal,

This pain is just to real,

There's just too much that time cannot erase.

Cho felt the train begin to move as she remembered the night of the Third Task. The night when Harry came back, carrying Cedric. She didn't want to believe it then, and was barely believing it now. Nothing anyone did could get her to move on from the past, she clung to it much like a three-year-old to their mother's legs when meeting a stranger. And yet, the pain was much worse than the fear of a stranger, because everything was just too real for her to handle. And there would be parts of it she would never be able to understand and erase from her etch-a-sketch mind.

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears,

When you screamed I´d fight away all of your fears,

And I held your hand through all of these years,

But you still have all of me.

Cho rushed down the hallway towards the hunched figure on the ground. He looked to be about a third year, and she knew he could benefit from some company. "Are you okay?" she asked timidly.

"I'm fine... it's just that...my Gran is..." he spoke, barely holding back tears. "My Gran is...dead." The last word was barely audible through the sobs and cries of pain.

"Shh... it's okay, it'll all be fine." she told him, wiping away the tears with her delicate fingers.

That was her first memory of Cedric. It was funny how it all worked out for them. He was there when she was afraid, she was there to help him through the rough times. Slowly but surely, their friendship blossomed into something more beautiful and precious than ever imagined. And in a matter of hours, this relationship was crushed, leaving Cho to mourn the loss and become tormented by the thought of him. She could never forget him. Never in a million years.

You used to captivate me by your resenating light,

Now I'm bound by the life you left behind,

Your face it holds my once pleasant dreams,

Your voice it chased away all the sanity in me.

Cho was so proud of him. Always humble, always kind, and never afraid to lend a hand when someone was in need. He always helped her, despite her refusals. It didn't matter to him, and she loved that the most about him. But because the world was so deprived of kind souls like Cedric, there was no way she could move on. She would never be the same without him. Even her dreams were haunted by the vision of Harry returning with the Portkey, clutching Cedric's limp body in his hands. And when she had arrived to her room that night, there was a letter on her bed with a rose. When she opened it, it let out a voice proclaiming its love for Cho. And as she listened, stinging tears rolled down. They dropped in a steady beat on the magical card sent to her from Cedric.

These wounds won't seem to heal,

This pain is just too real,

There's just too much that time cannot erase,

"Come on, Cho, it'll be so much fun!" urged Mandy Brocklehurst, a fellow Ravenclaw. There was supposed to be a big get-together in the Common Room for all the boys and girls of Ravenclaw house.

"I don't know, I mean . . . I've got lots to do...." Cho said, trying to brush it off. Truth be told, she knew that everyone would attempt to set her up with someone through a rather childish game of spin-the-bottle (`It´s quite popular with the Muggles,´ some half-bloods and Muggle-borns had told her.), and she didn't feel like doing it. It was too soon for her to go on, she needed to mourn and she couldn't do that by moving on to another person. It just doesn't work that way. So she sat in her dormitory, nose stuck in a book, while the distant giggles and yells drifted up towards her. But none of these sounds were as loud as the voice in the card. She reached onto her nightstand and opened it, listening to its words once more.

I tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone,

But though you're still with me I´ve been alone all along.

With a sigh, she sat the card back down, closing it to hear the piercing silence once again. She tried to throw herself into the book, constantly repeating to herself 'He's gone, he's gone, he's gone....' to try and ward off any stray tears. But somehow it wasn't true. His spirit seemed to be there still, haunting her and keeping her company in her solitude. And despite the eerie presence of him, she still had an overwhelming fear that she would end up alone in the end . . . like she had been for the past three months.

When you cried I´d wipe away all of your tears,

When you screamed I´d fight away all of your fears,

And I held your hand through all of these years,

But you still have all of me.

All of me,

All of me,

All.

Cho tossed and turned in her bed, then suddenly sat up and let out a long, shrill scream. As she breathed in deeply, she realised that it was all a dream. It was the same imagery every time, her vision of Harry's story. The hissing voice, the flash of green, and Cedric's body falling lifeless to the ground. It frightened her and made her want to run to someone and be held tightly in their arms. She needed the comfort and security that she no longer had. Tears were rolling down her face and as she wiped them away. She stood up and went to look out the window, wondering if she were the only one sitting by their windowsill in the castle, staring at the ghostly white moon. The moon was Cedric's favourite part of the night, how it illuminated everything and gleamed off her dark hair. Everything reminded her of him, but as she walked silently back to her bed, she didn't seem to mind it anymore.