Harry Potter and the Dark Mark

Chapter Two

The meeting didn't last long. All Madam Hooch wanted to tell them was that because all four House Teams needed quite a few new players; matches would not begin until just before the Christmas holidays. She also wanted to explain how selections went ahead for new players. Gryffindor only needed a new Keeper. Lastly, they had chosen their new Captains. Harry hadn't wanted to be one, but the selection had still made him angry. Not because he didn't look up to the Katie Bell, but because they were treating him as though he were made out of glass again. Madam Hooch had pulled him to one side and told him that Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore would prefer it if he didn't stand for Captain. They thought perhaps that the extra strain on top of his looming OWLS was not a good idea. It didn't matter that he hadn't wanted to be Captain, only that they were mollycoddling him again.

Frustrated, he stormed off. He reckoned he had time to go fling a few snowballs about before supper, and finish his potions essay. Hopefully it should wear off most of his anger. He heaved open the doors in the Entrance Hall and shivered as the chill wind enveloped him. He had no cloak. The scene in front of him looked exactly like a Muggle Christmas Card. Students from all houses were hurling soft snowballs at each other, screaming and yelling. Snowmen stood in lines like soldiers, and the china blue sky was as clear as Professor Trelawney's crystal ball. The sun had just set, leaving a yellowish gash across the horizon. Harry stood, taking all this in when a snowball hit him square in the face.

This really wasn't his day. The culprit sprinted off, sniggering. He let the snow fall off his face and down onto his uniform. He was mesmerized. He watched Hermione, Gryffindor Prefect, tell some smaller students off for rubbing snow in Colin Creevey's face, and then he let a small smile crease his face as Ron crept up behind her and grabbed her like a bear, laughing and rubbing snow in her face. She didn't waste time in getting her revenge. He saw Ginny and her friends too, fighting a group of Ravenclaws in the year below. He felt such an outsider. He felt like he was the only one who didn't know how to have fun any more. But as he watched everyone else, he saw that he wasn't. Cho Chang was wrapped up warmly, and although she was with her friends, she wasn't really joining in. She threw a snowball and watched as it fell apart in mid air, and she wasn't laughing at all. He felt sick. He had done that to her. He was the one who had broken her heart. Abruptly, he turned and walked back inside, ignoring whoever was calling his name. He had that potions essay to do.

He expected to find himself on the way back to Gryffindor Tower, but it wasn't until he arrived at the door he found that he had come to an entirely different place. The room was dimly lit by a few of the hovering candles found at Hogwarts, and the light bounced gently off all the cups and plaques in the room and glimmered against the walls and ceiling like water in a bowl. Leaving the door open behind him he tiptoed forwards softly in the direction of the newest plaque. It was an award for 'Excellence in the field of Defence against the Dark Arts', and it was in commemoration of Cedric Diggory.

He regarded it in silence, throat prickling and fists clenched. All at once an unexpected arm grasped his shoulder and made him jump back and pull out his wand, adrenaline coursing through his veins. He backed up a little, tensed and ready to fight. In the gloom a face stared at him fearfully, the body cowering and recoiling in terror. With a jolt he recognised the face. The face that looked at him was not that of any Dark Wizard. Feeling extremely stupid, his heart still pounding, Harry dropped his wand arm and pushed his wand back into his pocket. It took him a moment to find his voice.

"Sorry. You startled me."

"I noticed. I'm sorry," Cho said quietly.

He could not bear to face her. All he wanted was to leave this room, and her, and go and do his homework. Unfortunately she was blocking his path to the door.

"I ought to go. I have homework. For Snape," he muttered. He spoke to the floor.

"No. You've managed to avoid me since the start of term, Harry. You have to talk to me sometime," she reasoned in the same quiet voice. He nodded dully. The quicker she told him how much she hated, loathed and despised him, the sooner it would be over.

"S'pose so."

"Good. I've been watching you. All you do is work. I never see you having fun with Ron and Hermione like you used to."

"I didn't see you enjoying yourself outside!" he shot back defensively.

"True. But you seem to be worse off than I am. I just wanted to tell you that I don't blame you, you know," she replied.

"You don't?" he asked, astonished.

"Oh I did at first. I kept thinking that if you hadn't been so noble and offered to share the prize with him, that if you'd just been selfish and run for the cup then Cedric would be alive. But eventually I realised that I was being selfish, seeing things from my point of view alone. I know that you would never wish death upon anyone. I just wanted to tell you, because you seem to be blaming yourself, and you have to understand that you didn't kill Cedric. It was Voldemort."

Harry looked up sharply. "You said his name!"

"Yes. He's a coward who surrounds himself by Dark Wizards and kills innocent people. Why should I be afraid of the name of a coward? That would make me into a coward, and then I would be like him," Cho spat venomously. Harry reflected that if he were Voldemort, he would not cross Cho's path in a hurry. "At the Leaving Feast last year, Dumbledore told us to remember Cedric when we had to choose between something right, and something easy." Her voice cracked slightly. "It would be easy to blame you, but right to forgive you. I remembered Cedric, and I knew he would not have blamed you." As if to back up her words, she leant forwards and hugged Harry. He hugged her back after a moment.

"Thank you," he mumbled as they broke apart. The door creaked and out of the corner of his eye he was sure a flash of red hair disappeared back out into the corridor, but he ignored it. He was always imagining things and overreacting to them, like he had done just now to Cho surprising him. She smiled at him, and the smile illuminated her face. She was flooded with prettiness again, as she had been before last year. He was taken aback to discover that he felt ever so slightly less guilty than usual. Perhaps he had been wrong to avoid her. He laughed.

"What?" Cho enquired.

"I was just thinking, everyone thinks I'm such a brave Gryffindor, because I've faced Voldemort, and here I am, too afraid to talk to Cho Chang all year!" he smiled, and was pleased to find that the bitter edge most of his smiles had was missing. After a small pause, he sighed. "I'd better be going," he admitted. "I have five more inches to write about sleeping draughts for Snape tomorrow."

"Alright. I'll stay here for a bit, I think." Of one accord they both turned to look at Cedric's Plaque. Harry nodded, and exited the room quietly.

It had been easy, at the end of last year, to join in the games of exploding snap and so on, and to pretend that he didn't feel as bad as he did. What Cho had said to him had struck a chord within him. Just because it was easy to pretend to be ok, it didn't mean it was right. It had not been easy to face Cho just then, but it had been right, and by doing so, he had discovered many things. He'd found out that he was wrong. Cho didn't blame him for Cedric's death. He'd also found out that he was not putting on as good a show of happiness as he thought he had been. The other thing he'd found out was that he didn't mind being wrong, not when the benefits included feeling happier and getting hugged by Cho. Harry made up his mind. It was time to get back to the real world. He almost ran to the Common Room.

By the time he got there, most people had returned inside and were huddled in front of the roaring fire. Ron and Hermione were playing chess.

"You're losing... again!" Ron jeered. Hermione scowled.

"Ron, if you're going to be childish then I'm not going to play you!" she snapped.

"You're just getting touchy 'cos I'm beating you!" Hermione got up and stalked off to talk to Lavender and Parvati. "Oh, Hermione!" Ron gazed dejectedly at his chessmen. He brightened visibly when he saw Harry. "Oy, Harry! You'll come and finish off won't you?" He waggled his hands over the game. The chessmen ducked slightly, and the Queen shook her fist at Ron when he nearly knocked off her crown.

Harry nodded, delighted that an opportunity for normal-ness had appeared so soon. Then he remembered his essay. "No... Snape!" he exclaimed.

Ron rolled his eyes sympathetically and turned to Neville, trying to cajole him to play instead. "C'mon Nev, you know you want to brush up on your chess a bit..."

Harry laughed to himself and fetched his potions things. He sat near Ron and started writing feverishly. Getting back to the real world could wait.