Only Time Will Tell

It was strangely warm for mid-November. The wind whistled through the open windows of the Ravenclaw Common Room, and the flames in the fireplace crackled and popped. A young woman sat alone in front of the fire, her legs crossed and her eyes closed. She was thinking back in time to a day much like the one she was enjoying now.

"What did you do?"

"I'm sorry, Mama." A young girl knelt down on the floor of a well-kept kitchen, a shattered plate in hundreds of tiny pieces in front of her.

"How did this happen, Cho?"

"I was drying the dishes and I dropped it," the girl said, tears running down her cheeks.

"That plate was from my favorite set of china!" The girl winced as her mother slapped her cheek. "Clean this up right now!"

The girl tried to clean up the mess; she picked up a large piece of china from the floor, but she was trembling with fear, and sliced her finger open. She dropped the shard she was holding, and it broke into even smaller pieces.

"You worthless child!" The woman grabbed the girl's shoulders and shook her.

Tears streamed down flushed cheeks as the girl cried, wishing that her father would come home. The woman slapped her cheek once more and stood back. The girl knelt, cutting her knees on the pieces of broken china on the floor.

"Joy? What happened here?"

The girl's wish came true. She looked up to see her father standing in the doorway of the kitchen, looking at his daughter and wife.

"She's worthless. She can't even dry plates!" the mother told her husband.

"How could you say that about your own daughter? She's perfect!"

Her mother left the room and the girl's father helped her clean up the broken plate - then he cleaned the cut on her finger and read her a story. The girl hoped that her mother wouldn't be mean to her anymore.

Later that night, she tiptoed to her door and peeked out. Her parents were fighting and her mother had a bag in her hand. The girl watched her parents yelling at each other for a while... then her mother stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind her. She didn't know it, but that was to be the last time the girl ever saw her mother.

"Cho?"

Cho Chang was brought back to reality - someone was calling her name. Her friend, Marietta, was standing next to her.

"Why are you still inside? Come on, let's go out for a walk," Marietta said to her friend. She held out a hand to Cho, helping her to her feet.

"Let me go and put on some shoes," Cho said. She headed back to the girls' dormitories to put her trainers on, then walked back out to the Common Room and followed Marietta outside.

"So, what were you doing in there?" Marietta asked.

"Just thinking," Cho replied, looking around the grounds. First years were everywhere, playing with Gobstones and trading Chocolate Frog Cards. A few older students were taking a swim in the Black Lake along with some of the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.

"About what?"

"Oh, it was nothing," Cho said, looking towards the lake. She could just make out Cedric Diggory. He was about to jump into the lake.

"Were you wondering about who's going to be selected by the Goblet of Fire?" Marietta asked.

"Yeah," Cho lied.

"Oh." Marietta smiled, nodding. They walked in silence toward the lake. Suddenly, Cho started talking.

"What do you want to be when you graduate?"

"I'm not sure. My mum says I should try and get a job at the Ministry - I don't suppode that'd be too bad, it could even be fun. What about you?"

"Auror," she said without hesitation. She paused for a moment, adding, "Or maybe just a mother. A mum who stays home all the time and takes care of her kids and her house."

Marietta nodded. "Fair enough. Good for you."

"Hey!"

The girls saw the Cedric jogging towards them from the lake. His face was flushed from the cold water, and he was dressed only in swimming trunks.

"Hi Cedric," Cho said.

"Would you like to go for a swim?" he asked.

Cho shrugged and nodded. "Sure, why not?"

Cedric smiled. "Great."

"We'll be right over," Cho said, dragging Marietta towards a small group of trees. The girls each conjured a swimming costume. Cho transfigured the leaf of a fern into a towel so that they could cover themselves as they changed. They left their clothes and wands under the tree and made their way over to where someone had constucted a wooden dock, complete with diving board. Leaving Marietta, Cho went to find Cedric.

"Hi," she said. "I'm here."

He looked her over quickly then nodded. "Yeah. So... do you want to jump off the dock with me?"

She bit her lip and smiled. They walked along the dock - about half way down, Cho grabbed his hand.

"Let's run from here and jump off the end, okay?"

"Okay. Ready? One. Two. Three!" The two ran down the rest of the dock and jumped. Before she hit the cold water, as she was flying through the air, Cho gave a whoop and suddenly, felt refreshed, no longer angry at her mother. Maybe it was the lake's water; maybe she was just growing out of it; or maybe this was the effect of her conversation with Marietta. Whatever it was, Cho felt true happiness for once in her life and was glad to have felt it while she was with Cedric. Who knows? Maybe their relationship would last, and she would be able to become the mum she wanted so bad to be. Only time would tell.