WIZARDS DUEL: SIXTH YEAR
by Patrick Drazen
a/k/a monkeymouse
3.12 Endings and Beginnings
[If you found your way this far, you don't need me to tell you that JK Rowling created the Potterverse, and is still creating it.]
"There are no happy endings, because nothing ends." from The Last Unicorn
xxx
Harry could hardly see, could hardly move, and had trouble hearing. But he recognized the voice of Madam Pomfrey. "It's amazing that he's lasted this long."
"The last bit of his mother's protection. Without it, he surely would have died with Voldemort." Dumbledore's voice. Harry vaguely wondered who they were talking about.
"Frankly, he may as well have died. You should have sent him to the Special Wing. I can ease the pain, but I don't think I can do much more."
"I've heard that . somewhere before," Harry muttered as he tried to wake himself up.
Then he realized: he was in Stasis. He remembered the fight against Voldemort, how the Dark Lord's own fear of death had led him to amass so much power. How that fear also tempted him to covet the phoenix Fawkes, which proved his undoing. And how he-Harry Potter-could only stop Voldemort from saving himself if Harry put his own life on the line.
"Congratulations, Mister Potter, but you really must get over this chronic habit of leaving the rest of us in your debt."
Harry's eyes-one of them bandaged-went wide at the voice. He actually tried to crawl away, even though he couldn't move anything.
"Rest easy, Harry," Dumbledore said in his usual kindly manner. "Professor Snape has accomplished his mission, as you have accomplished yours."
"He . was there ."
"As he was supposed to be," Dumbledore nodded. "Many were tempted to become Death Eaters, and some repented their actions. Severus Snape took the extraordinary step of becoming a double agent: pretending to be a Death Eater, but secretly keeping the Ministry informed of Voldemort's plans. He even sabotaged some of those plans himself."
"But . Hogsmeade ."
Snape spoke up: "I had no intention of letting the town lose one home or one life. My anger at you and Miss Chang was partly because of Sirius Black's involvement, and partly because your meddling might have compromised my own position."
"Then, that business with the complaint, and the leave of absence."
"Oh, that was all quite genuine," Dumbledore nodded. "We merely decided to take advantage of the timing. It allowed Severus to shift his base of operations from Hogwarts to Voldemort's inner circle."
Harry now noticed that Snape had something pinned to his robes; he recognized it as the Order of Merlin, First Class. Snape noticed Harry's gaze, and gave his approximation of a smile. "Ironic, isn't it, Mister Potter? Voldemort-and Megan Hawksaw, for that matter-preached that you should trust no one. They should have paid more attention to their own advice."
The ghost of Cho Chang floated in through the wall, past the assembled Hogwarts faculty and over to Harry's bedside. "Harry my love, you were magnificent."
"You too."
Dumbledore cleared his throat for attention. "Now that you are both here, I have something to say. All the gold of Gringotts couldn't begin to pay what we owe the both of you. Therefore, instead of the coin of the Realm, I can give you whatever you may wish, through whatever my magic can accomplish. You have but to ask."
Harry shifted in his bed. "I'll tell you the truth, Professor. I don't think life has many thrills to offer me any more. It certainly doesn't offer me Cho." He turned to the ghost. "Part of me wants-desperately wants-to go with you. Into the Great Mystery, as you call it, or even hang about here as a ghost myself. I want us to be together, but I feel like there's something I have to do here first."
Professor Flitwick spoke as best he could through his tears. "I wish you weren't going, Harry," he blubbered. "You still could teach us all a thing or two."
"Never fancied myself a teacher," Harry said, barely above a whisper. "But maybe..."
"Does this mean you're willing to stay?" Dumbledore asked. "The magic is here, if you wish it."
Harry turned to Cho. "No offense, Cho, but everything I've done here, even Quidditch, has been with someone else's help. I feel like I need to help someone else, the way others have helped me..."
"Oh, Harry," Cho interrupted, "stop being such a typical male. You're taking forever to get where you're going because you won't let anyone show you the way." Cho turned toward the others. "Harry wants what I want, even if he can't say it yet. I'm just afraid it's, well, rather a tall order."
"Tall orders are easy," Dumbledore smiled; "the impossible takes an extra day or two. What is your wish, Miss Chang?"
She bowed her head and bit her lip, and a small cloud of silver blush came to her cheeks. "I want a child," she smiled. "I want Harry's child."
Harry stared at Cho for a second, then chuckled and shook his head. Cho had gotten it exactly right. "No offense to any of you, but a parent is also a teacher. I never really knew that, because I never knew my parents. Well, I think that's the best kind of teacher I can become. I know I'm being selfish, but that's the only way I'd want to stay on earth: if I could be with Cho, and if I could help to raise our child...a child who's as beautiful and as clever and as full of love as her mother. Does that make me selfish?"
"No worse than me, because I'm just as selfish," Cho, gazing lovingly at Harry, continued the thought. "I want only to be united again on earth with Harry Potter, to conceive his child in love, to give birth to that child in joy, and to raise that child to be as brave and as wise and as compassionate as her father."
Hagrid was loudly blowing his nose into a grimy-looking handkerchief the size of a tablecloth.
Dumbledore stepped forward. "This is a very serious thing you are asking. Spells to return the dead to life take the greatest toll imaginable, and are often requested for the most selfish reasons. But in this case, you have demonstrated such greatness of spirit that even the Ministry would agree with me: you deserve no less.
"Just as there are forbidden curses which blight the will and inflict pain and death, so there are spells that draw their power from life and from love. Harry, surely you realize this, for until recently you carried the mark of such love on your forehead. Because they are the most powerful spells of all, they are also highly classified. Only a few may perform them, and, since I am the only one in this room with proper clearance from the Ministry, the rest of you should exchange your final words with the happy couple before they set off."
Madam Pomfrey didn't rush to Harry's side-after all, it was HER infirmary and she wasn't going anywhere yet-but the rest of the faculty crowded around the bed, wishing Harry and Cho good luck.
Madam Hooch looked like she was trying to keep herself under very tight control. "I'll be waiting," was all she said before she strode briskly out of the ward.
Hagrid stepped up next. "Well, I don't rightly know what the Perfessor's got up his sleeve, but it's like I said before. He's never lied to me, so I 'spects I'll see yer again right enough." One more sniffle, and Hagrid jammed the kerchief into one of his bottomless pockets. "So, like Olympe would say, this ain't 'adoo', but 'orry voyer.'"
"Au revoir, Rubeus Hagrid," Cho smiled.
"Professor Rubeus Hagrid," Harry corrected her, "my first teacher in the wizarding world, and my first friend."
Professor Snape hung back to be the last to speak. "Miss Chang, in the matter of your assault after the Battle of Hogsmeade; the headmaster punished you as he saw fit, and I have nothing to add--except that, perhaps, in this case, the punishment exceeded the crime. As this is probably my last chance to do so, I beg your pardon."
Cho rose, clasped her hands and bowed from the waist. "Your very gracious apology is accepted."
He turned towards Harry, who spoke first: "Excuse me for not bowing to you myself."
A bit of the old fire flared up in Snape's eyes, but only for a few seconds. "For six years now, you have dodged, evaded, insulted, tweaked, scorned, spurned and dismissed my every attempt to teach you anything useful to even the most unskilled wizard. But there was one thing you did not teach me until quite recently: that, in looking at you and seeing James Potter, I was horribly mistaken. In all humility, I ask your forgiveness."
Harry raised the less wounded of his two hands, which Professor Snape shook gingerly. "Of course, Professor; no harm done."
The sound of running footsteps echoed in the corridor, headed for the open infirmary door. Suddenly a figure in new black robes stood in the doorway.
"SIRIUS BLACK!" Madam Pomfrey screamed.
"What are you doing here, Sirius?" Snape snarled.
"Reporting for work, of course," Sirius said, striding quite jauntily into the room and smiling at one and all. "Seems the Headmaster has offered me the post teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"This is a joke!"
"No it's not, Severus, and neither is this." He pulled a scroll out of his robes and handed it to Snape. He unrolled, read and started sputtering like a cauldron over a high fire.
"A .a PARDON?!"
"Full, free and absolute," Dumbledore smiled. "I received your owl a while ago telling me, but it's so gratifying to see it set down in parchment, isn't it?"
"But, how."
"Pettigrew finally confessed to framing me all those years ago. Remus Lupin was there to back it up. Fudge didn't have a choice, really." Sirius took back his scroll from the astounded Snape. "Yes, one of Fudge's last acts as Minister."
"Last acts?" Pomfrey asked.
"He's stepping aside-for reasons of health; that's the official line, anyway. Fact is, he's made nothing but wrong decisions since this all began.
"Harry, I." Sirius paused, seeing the heavily bandaged, barely alive form of his godson. When he spoke again, it was more softly. "Got something to show you." He brought that something out of his robes. "Yew," he smiled. "Thirteen inches long exactly. Heartstring of a dragon, and I never felt anything so wonderful in my life. Harry, I don't know just how you did it, but you did it. You gave me my life back."
"As much as you gave me, it's only fair. You'll take care of those other things I asked you?"
"First thing in the morning," he smiled. Turning to Snape, he said, "So, where do I park my motorcycle?"
Snape's eyes were frosty as ever, but his voice carried amusement as he said, "Just don't let it loose in the Forbidden Forest. We've got a wild Ford Anglia in there; they could mate and produce a litter of motorized Muggle monstrosities."
Sirius roared with laughter as he clapped Snape on the back. "I think I'm going to like being back here."
Finally, there was only the three of them-Harry, Cho and Albus Dumbledore. "Children, there are several ways of bringing the dead back to life, although each requires a bit of a sacrifice. Miss Chang, were you buried or cremated?"
"Cremated."
"Ah. Well, that lets Re-animation right out. Just as well, too; it tends to get rather messy. There is also the Exchange method. As the name suggests, a living person surrenders his life force to bring back the dead."
"Which living person?" Harry asked.
"In this case, it would be me."
"I take back my wish, then," Cho said, shaking her head. "I won't live at your expense."
"It wouldn't be any trouble at all. I'm quite old, and I honestly believe that I haven't much time left on earth anyway. My list of accomplishments hardly needs to be longer than it already is."
"You know better than that, Professor," Harry said. "You can't expect either of us to agree to that."
"Frankly," the old wizard smiled, "I didn't expect you to agree. But I had to be sure. The Exchange has pushed all too many desperate souls into the embrace of the Dark Arts. That leaves only Transmigration."
"What's that, then?"
"When your souls are born into the bodies of others."
"But that sounds a bit like, well, being a vampire," Cho said.
"Believe me when I say there are a great many bodies walking about these days with no souls at all, and not all of them are Muggles. The odds are actually rather good that we can find two young people, of about your age and circumstances. Their bodies will become yours, and will enable your wish to be granted.
"You understand," Dumbledore warned them, "that things must be greatly different at first. For a time, you will forget all about Hogwarts and the entire wizarding world. You will live Muggle lives, remembering nothing of us and our world, but your memories will return, at the proper moment. For now, you're asking the universe to recreate itself, and, while no wizard can rewrite the past, sometimes the best we can hope for is a little fine tuning of the future." Harry and Cho nodded. "Take each other's hand."
They both wordlessly asked the same question: if Cho was a ghost--
"Take each other's hand," Dumbledore repeated.
His head swimming with hope and fear, Harry reached out toward Cho...and, for the first time since that awful August night, skin touched skin.
Harry and Cho stared into each other's eyes, barely hearing Dumbledore intone the word: "NOW!"
* * *
On a certain day, 8:00 a.m.
Harry Potter cursed himself. What was he thinking, signing up for an 8 a.m. lecture course? Of course it wasn't really his fault, he reflected; it was a required core course for freshmen at the University, and there was no choice. Stupid Uni regulations...
He threw himself down into a seat near the door, at the end of a bench of students attending (whether they chose to or not) the History of Modern Capitalism, taught by a Professor Snape, who at this moment was taking the roll:
"Barstow"
"Here, sir"
"Benton"
"Present"
"Chang"
"Present, sir"
This last voice came from the student sitting next to him. He turned to her, and was pleased to see a very pretty Chinese girl, whose long, straight, very black hair hung halfway down her back.
"Hi," he whispered.
"Hi yourself," she whispered back.
"You don't really want to be here, do you?"
"You taking a survey, then?"
"I just can't think why we're putting ourselves through this."
"What, don't you think this is fun and exciting?"
"SECOND CALL FOR HARRY POTTER!"
"Sorry, sir. Here, sir."
"Mister Potter," the professor broke off the roll call, "you may well find that, as the class progresses, we will be touching on a history that is not only vital in the formation of the modern world, but is as full of drama as anything on the television. You may find it so, that is, if you stop chatting up the other students. Purbridge."
"Here, sir."
xxx
9:00 a.m.
"Where did they find HIM?" Cho laughed as they fled the lecture hall.
"London School of Economics," Harry answered. After a slight pause: "Out back, under a rock."
Cho laughed again. Harry's jokes didn't always go over well-they were his way of coping in a world where he was on the short side, and where people thought his black-rimmed glasses told them more about him than did his vivid green eyes. But Cho was almost his height, and seemed to enjoy his company. He decided to take a chance.
"Say, er, what's the rest of your day like? I mean, if you're not busy for lunch."
"Booked solid, I'm afraid, Harry. This is a bad day; nothing but classes." She saw his crestfallen features, however, and had an idea. "But, how about dinner? I'm sharing a flat with some friends, but they'll be gone tonight, and I hate cooking for one."
"Yeah! I mean, that'll be great."
"It's not too far from here, but you'll walk right by it if you're not looking for it. I'll draw you a map." She tore the last page out of her notebook and started drawing.
Harry was stunned by his good luck: pretty, friendly, and willing to cook. This can't be real. "Er, Cho?"
"What?"
"If you don't mind my asking, why me? I mean, we only just met an hour ago."
"And yet it feels like we've known each other for years, right?" Harry stopped, realizing she was right. "You feel it too, then. Besides," she smiled, handing Harry the map, "I'm a pushover for green eyes."
"Should I bring anything?"
"A good red wine would be nice."
"Is there such a thing as a cheap good red wine? I don't have much money at the moment."
"That's all right, then. Just bring yourself.and those eyes."
7:15 p.m.
"Engineering? What made you choose that?"
"I dunno, really. It just seemed like a practical sort of major, and my aunt and uncle are always on me to do something really useful with my life."
"Well, what do your parents say?"
"They're . they're dead."
"I'm sorry, Harry. I shouldn't have said anything."
"No, it's all right; you couldn't have known. We were all in a car crash; I was a year old at the time. They were killed, and I guess I was thrown clear. All I had to show for it was a scar on my forehead, but that's faded away."
"Have they treated you well, your aunt and uncle?"
"Well enough, I guess. And I get on with their son Dudley. But for some reason I always feel like an outsider with them."
9:25 p.m.
"I've never been in anything exciting or unusual. My parents, though; they came over from China just before I was born. Apparently, they had a rough time of it. They don't like to talk about it, though."
"What do they do?"
"Import-export. They seem to do pretty well."
"So does my uncle, I guess. I never really thought about it."
"What do you think about?"
"Right at this moment? You."
"You're a smooth one, you are."
"No, I'm not. I mean, I don't usually get on this well with girls, no matter what I say."
"So you think this is another one of those 'we must have known each other in a previous life' moments."
"That's one way to explain it." There was a long and awkward pause. "Well, I guess I'd better go, unless you want to ask me something else." Please, Harry thought, ask me something else.
"Well, I've been wondering what else you usually don't do with the other girls."
12:17 a.m.
"Harry Potter, you are a rotten liar! You must have done it before!"
"No! Never!"
"Well, I've only done this twice before, but I never felt this-"
"You were saying?"
"Nope. Shan't tell you."
"Why not?"
"Don't want you walking around all day with a bloody great."
"Naughty!"
"ego! Now who's being naughty?"
"Cho, this is.well, it's crazy! I mean, I met you less than a day ago, and now here we are, and the one thing I want to do is jump out of this bed, throw open that window, stick my head out and yell, 'I love Cho Chang and I don't care who knows it!'"
"Do it, Harry! Yell whatever you like, and add a message from me."
"What's that?"
"Well, you can say that Cho Chang has also fallen in love with Harry Potter."
"You're joking!"
"You're right; it IS crazy, but I mean it!"
"Well, that's worth a shout or two. How do I open this.WHA!"
"Harry?!"
"I'm all right; just startled. But there's a bloody great owl outside your window!"
"There is not!"
"It's true! He was just sitting there, looking at me."
"Then save the shouting out the window part until later. Come back here."
So two of the most important people in the wizarding world, the two best Seekers ever to chase a Snitch at Hogwarts-and those responsible for the final and utter defeat of the Dark Lord-met again in the Muggle world, and fell in love again. They were as happy together there as they were at Hogwarts, but there was always a nagging sense that something was missing.
Cho took medical classes and became a pharmacist, but found it rather unsatisfying. She hardly used all the knowledge she accumulated in school, dismissing her job as "counting someone else's pills". And at times, she found herself in the broom and mop section of the local market, just standing there, trying to remember something important.
As for Harry Potter, one of the best Seekers Hogwarts ever knew was still flying, after a fashion. He got a degree in engineering and, despite his poor eyesight, became one of the youngest pilots ever to qualify as an international pilot for British Airways. Yet, like his wife, he couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't enough. He once told Cho that he could always tell when the job started getting to him, when he needed some time off: "when I start thinking about rolling down the window and letting a five hundred mile per hour breeze into the cockpit."
They didn't know what was wrong-only that something was missing. But that all changed the day that a long-ago wish was granted. On, of all days, one July thirty-first: Harry's birthday.
"Just about done now, missus."
"Hang in there, Cho."
"Easy for you to say." The rest of her words were lost to a sustained groan as-
"And there's the shoulders! Worst is over now, missus."
The rest of the baby gushed out, almost uncontrollably. "And here's your baby," the Jamaican nurse said; "a beautiful little girl."
As soon as the baby was born, Cho felt a sense of loss-she'd gotten so used to carrying this life inside her for the past few months, that at first she didn't know how she'd spend the rest of her life feeling so.empty. But the second she saw her daughter, she knew: I haven't lost a thing. Oh, I'll lose her someday, when she goes off to college, and gets married, but for now we're two lives that are one life. Like Harry and me.
"Do you have a name for her?" the nurse asked.
"We don't know yet," Harry smiled. " Could you dim these lights, please?"
"Well, yes, but."
"It's all right," Cho smiled. "We need to see the color of her eyes. If it's too bright in here, she won't open them."
The nurse dialed down the lights in the delivery room. After a minute, the newborn opened her eyes.
"Is that what mine look like from your side?" Harry asked, awestruck.
"Exactly the same."
"Then we know her name."
Jade Chang Potter seemed to be reaching for something, her vivid green eyes, set in a tiny replica of her mother's face, searching the room. Harry traced a finger across her face, and the moment he touched her lips she began sucking on his fingertip.
"Look at that, then! She's not shy. Give her the breast, missus."
Cho slid the gown off one shoulder, exposing a dark, swollen nipple. She squeezed the breast to start the flow, then brought the baby's mouth to it. The baby immediately started drawing milk.
"Oh, she knows what she wants. She's a smart one, missus. You already have her name down for Eton?"
Cho almost didn't hear the nurse, gazing in joyful fascination at the life she and Harry had created. But she looked at the nurse, and said "No." then stopped. An odd, almost giddy faraway look came to her eyes, as if she had awakened from a beautiful dream into an even more wonderful dawn. She looked at Harry, whose brilliant green eyes carried the same look. As they had so many times since they met, they said the same word at the same time, but this was a word that they didn't realize until then that they knew:
"Hogwarts"
xxx
Harry and Cho waited until the nurse took Cho back to her room. Then they talked. They talked well into the night, stopping whenever someone came into the room. Some (another word they didn't remember until that day) Muggle or other. They knew that they had to quit their jobs, draw out their resources, and effectively vanish from the world.
No sooner had they left the hospital the next day than they waved down a taxicab. It took them to a grimy, neutral looking pub sandwiched on a sidestreet between a bookstore and a music store. Most people wouldn't even know it was there.
They stood on the sidewalk for a minute. "Nervous?" Harry asked.
Cho nodded. "We don't know how much things have changed."
"Then let's find out." And they entered the Leaky Cauldron.
They needn't have worried. It seemed completely unchanged from when Harry first entered it so many years before. He even recognized one of the pub's long-standing customers, Doris Crockford, in her usual place by the hearth.
Harry stepped up to her. "Been a long time, Doris."
Doris looked up, tried to remember where she'd seen the face, then with a "Good heavens!!" almost fell out of her chair. "Tom! Tom!" she called to the owner. "Look who this is!"
Tim, the bald and withered old bartender, likewise first looked, then stared. "Glory be," he finally said, "but I didn't think I'd ever see it. Welcome back, Mister Potter."
"Mister and missus. You remember Cho Chang, I hope?"
"I'm not likely to forget; her folks still have the shop at the other end of the Alley. Congratulations to the both of ye. And how old is this little darling?"
"Just born yesterday."
"Well, then, you don't need to be keepin' her in a stuffy old place like this. Come by and see us when ye have the time. We want to hear all about ye."
As small as the pub was, it took a very long time for them to get through the crowd that seemed to come out of nowhere for congratulations and kisses, hugs and handshakes, and a great deal of cooing at the baby. Finally, they got to the backyard wall by the dustbins. The wall was already open onto Diagon Alley.
There were very few people about; but then, it was the very hottest part of August. They did see someone at the end of the lane: A little old Chinese lady, wearing a sweater in spite of the heat, sweeping the pavement. They got within six feet of her and she still hadn't noticed them.
Cho spoke, hesitantly: "Gran?"
Granny Li turned and looked. Her eyes went as wide as saucers. She dropped her broom, ran into the shop, turned right around, ran back out, grabbed her broom and ran back in. She could be heard shouting something in Chinese.
"Well?" Harry asked.
Even though she was smiling, Cho's eyes started to fill with tears. "She's saying, 'They've come back; they've come home.'"
Suddenly Granny Li was back at the door. "Why you wait there? In, in!" Cho carried Jade in, followed by Harry. As he passed Granny Li, she swatted him on the arse with her broom. "Good boy," she said as he looked at her; then she burst out cackling like a hag.
They spent that month in Diagon Alley both getting used to caring for the baby and getting used again to the wizarding world. Sometimes, the baby seemed to be the harder job, even though Jade had five grownups to dote on her. Cho heard lecture after endless lecture from her mother about how to care for a baby, but they all pitched in on feeding and bathing and diapering, or just watching this lovely little witch get introduced to the world.
There was lots else to do, of course. Their second night back, Harry and Cho were treated to a ten-course Chinese banquet by her family, to celebrate their marriage and the birth of the baby. The very next night, there was another ten-course Chinese banquet-this one hosted by the neighbouring Tan family. They didn't want to appear less than hospitable, and they also wanted to show that there were no hard feelings that Cho's engagement to their son hadn't been honoured.
"They couldn't very well say anything once I died, could they?" Cho whispered to Harry during one of several "no hard feelings" speeches given between courses by Mister Tan.
The real surprises came when they ventured into Diagon Alley. The first week they were back, they went to Gringotts to see about starting a joint account. When Harry mentioned his name, the goblin behind the desk gave him a particularly intense stare. After a minute, he jumped down from his stool, walked into the back offices, then walked back out with a letter.
"To be called for," he said, in an almost surly voice, as he handed the letter to Harry:
"Dear Harry:
First things first. DAMN YOU, YOU STUPID SOD! WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL US YOU WERE GOING TO FIGHT YOU-KNOW-WHO?! YOU COULD HAVE TRUSTED US; WE COULD HAVE HELPED, AND YOU NEVER GAVE US A CHANCE!!
Having said that-
I don't know what was the bigger surprise: Sirius showing up at Hogwarts as a free man, or his saying that you were giving your things away. It was no surprise that you'd near killed yourself in the fight, but then he says that you and Cho will be going off somewhere, to get married and have kids and all. Well, if anyone's earned the right to it, you have.
But if you think I'm going to go through your money like Cousin Dudley going through a cake, you'd better think again. If I did that, it would be like saying, 'That's it, I know he's never coming back.' And I know better than to think any such thing while you're around.
I don't know when you'll get this, so I don't know where I'll be. Hermy wants to go to Uni (of course!) but she can't make up her mind between U of Avalon or Old Heidelberg. As if I'd follow her to the Continent for a few years! (Well, maybe.)
Anyway, if you're reading this, you'll know to check in at the Burrow to find out where we are. We'll probably get an owl one day when we least expect it, and then we can get together again.
Once your classmate and always your friend,
Ron
PS: Dumbledore told us what happened to Draco. Who'd have thought the little git had it in him?
PPS: I'm not a total idjit; I'm DEFINITELY keeping your Firebolt!-until you ask for it back."
After that, the letter continued in another hand:
"Dear Harry and Cho,
I assume that, whenever you're reading this and whatever happened, you two are together. That's the way I'll always remember you, if we shouldn't meet again. But of course we will!
Ron wouldn't tell you, but things have gotten better for his family financially. With Fudge out as Minister of Magic, and Diggory as Interim Minister, Mr. Weasley's finally gotten the promotion and rise in salary he's deserved for so long.
Ron seems to think that I can't choose between universities. The fact is, Heidelberg is doing some of the best research in Muggle Studies genealogy. I would go there in a heartbeat, but I know Ron wouldn't come with me, and it's gotten to the place where I can't bear to be away from him for too long. (He feels the same, even though he'll never admit it.) I'm sure you understand. Anyway, I understand that Avalon has a lovely campus, and the Welsh Quidditch teams are perfectly fine (even if they aren't the Cannons).
Please write as soon as you can; I know we'll have so much to catch up on!
Hermione
PS: Thanks for the cloak. I'll take your advice as best I can, with a little help from my teacher."
Harry looked from the letter to the goblin, who probably wouldn't have waited a second longer. "Your key," he said, practically fuming at being made to wait.
"Key? To my old vault, you mean?"
"If your name is Harry Potter, it is."
"How, erm, how much."
"An accounting," the goblin said, pulling some papers out of his pocket and handing a slip to Harry.
Harry looked at the number, then stared at it. "Cho, does this mean what I think it means?"
Cho likewise looked, then stared, at the paper. "Well, among other things, it means you could pay the salary of a professional Quidditch team for a year."
"Wow," Harry said, trying not to raise his voice. He asked the goblin, "Can we put this account in both our names? And our daughter's, just in case?"
You would have thought he had asked the goblin to run to Edinburgh and back. "Follow me," he sighed, as he led them to a desk.
By the second week of August, Hogwarts supplies were in and students and parents began to fill the street. One time Harry and Cho were looking in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies when they heard two boys talking:
"I was upside-down, I tell you!"
"Pull the other one!"
"I swear! The Snitch was dive-bombing me! I had to back up to keep it from breaking every bone in my hand. I caught that one flying backwards!"
"Yeah, you and Harry Potter. Let's get some ice cream."
It was all Harry could do not to laugh out loud. As he looked away, he caught sight of a figure standing in the doorway to his shop: Mister Ollivander. Harry suddenly remembered that he'd lost his wand in the fight with Voldemort, and Cho's wand had been damaged in the bomb blast, and was burned when her body was burned.
As soon as they started walking to the store, Mr. Ollivander ducked back inside, and was halfway up a ladder when they entered. "People seek replacement wands under the strangest circumstances," he was saying, apparently to himself, "but I've surely never come across something like this before. No matter; I think we have just the thing here." He spoke even as he climbed down the ladder.
"Ladies first. Your first wand was willow, as I recall, unicorn hair, eleven inches. All well and good for a schoolgirl, but of course that was another time. You might try this; part of a shipment that arrived last week."
One wand caught Cho's eye immediately; a wand made of bamboo. No sooner did she pick it up than a shower of sparks flew out the end, cascading to the floor.
"Excellent, excellent. Nine inches of bamboo, heartstring from a Chinese Fireball. Not too many British wizards like this model, but it seems to suit you just fine.
"Now for Mister Potter." Harry started to sweat, remembering that it took forever for Mister Ollivander to find his first wand. "But we all learn from experience, don't we? If you'd be so kind."
From a tray with three wands on it, Harry selected one and picked it up. Large spheres of light-one gold, one silver-grew at the end of the wand, then broke away and floated through the shoppe, bathing everything in a peaceful glow.
"Wonderful!" Ollivander exclaimed. "This one was waiting for you, Mister Potter. Formerly nine inches of holly, if I remember correctly, and now twelve inches of rowan wood, with a phoenix feather. Not the same phoenix as your last wand, but of course you're hardly the same as you were."
"How does it feel?" Cho asked.
"Like we're finally back home," Harry smiled.
With a week to go before Hogwarts classes started again, Harry and Cho had gone to Madam Malkin's. They just wanted some robes for everyday; they were beginning to feel conspicuous in their Muggle attire. As they left Malkin's they heard the voice: "Well, I knew this day would come, but it's still a pleasant surprise."
There on the pavement stood Minerva McGonagall, looking unchanged from the last time they had seen her.
They went to the Leaky Cauldron for refreshments and to catch up on what had changed.
"The main change at Hogwarts seems to be my job description," McGonagall said. "I am now Acting Headmistress, after the departure of Albus Dumbledore."
"That's such a shame," Cho said. "How did it happen?"
"You misunderstand. He didn't die; he departed. We found a note on the Head Table one morning, saying that there was a rumour he needed to verify, and to keep things running along until he got back." A strange look came over McGonagall's face. "That was almost two years ago."
"Surely he's all right, isn't he?"
"Harry, we haven't heard a word from him-not directly, at any rate. There have been sightings in Latvia, rumors that he was in Mongolia--always many weeks after the fact. The truth is that nobody really knows."
"I'd love to spend a day or two back at Hogwarts, just to look about," Cho sighed. "But we'd probably disrupt things."
"Personally," McGonagall smiled, "I can't think of a nicer disruption. When I get back, I'll send an owl along with two tickets. It'll be grand having you back."
So it was that Jade Chang Potter got her first look at Hogwarts-and the Hogwarts Express-when she was barely one month old. The train trip was as long as ever but interesting, especially when the old witch pushed the cart up to their compartment. Harry bought a pack of Chocolate Frogs for old time's sake.
He looked at the cards, and started to laugh. He could hardly speak as he passed the cards to Cho.
She got the joke immediately and started laughing along with Harry. They were laughing at two of the wizard cards-one which said that Cho Chang was killed in a bomb blast, the other which said that Harry Potter died while battling Lord Voldemort. These would be collector's items.
xxx
They stood at the door of the Great Hall, Harry craning his neck to see the Head Table.
"Funny, I can't see him. You'd think he'd be hard to miss."
"He isn't," Cho chuckled; "you're just looking at the wrong table." She pointed down the hall, to the far end of the Gryffindor table.
Harry was off like a shot, leaving Cho to catch up. He grabbed onto the very large student in very large black robes.
"HAGRID?"
Hagrid turned his squinty black eyes on Harry, trying to place him at first, then he took both of Harry's hands in his, nearly crushing them. "It's you! It really is you an' all!"
Cho caught up. "It's been a long time, Hagrid. This doesn't mean you're not on the faculty?"
"Truth is, I consider this a step up." He turned to the other Gryffindors around him, who were watching in amusement. "Gotta say hello to me old mates; you unnerstan'." He walked them to a corner of the Great Hall.
"What kind of step up?"
"Well, when my name was cleared and they made me a teacher here, I thought I'd gone as high as I ever could in life. I mean, considerin' I'd never finished here in the first place. But I been spendin' summers with Olympe Maxim; I 'spects yeh remember her."
They nodded. Cho asked, "Is she still Headmistress at Beauxbatons?"
"Yeh, an' things got a little sticky between us awhile back. She says she can' be goin' anywhere wi' me 'cause I'm jus' a gamekeeper. Well, we had some right words after that, an' finally she says she din't mean anythin' insultin', but she knows I have the brains ter do better in life. So I talks it over wi' Professor Dumbledore an', well, here I am. An' I mean to graduate this time 'round, get me wand back an' all."
"That's great, Hagrid! We'll be cheering for you."
"Yeh, well, I'm still worried about the OWLs. Prob'ly have teh study day an' night fer 'em."
"You can do it," Cho smiled.
Hagrid looked at Cho, and seemed torn about something-wanting to ask a question, but also wanting not to ask.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, Harry, I don' think I should say, but . well . it's about yer ."
Cho understood. "Hold out your hands."
As Hagrid did so, Cho rested the baby on his palms. There was almost as much room as in her crib. "Her name's Jade."
"Ooh, lookit her, so tiny an' all." Hagrid brought his face closer to Jade, who seemed to find his beard interesting, passing her hands through it a few times.
"But you're not Groundkeeper any more?"
"Wha? No, I din't say that. Madam Sprout's took over some o' my duties, just as her assistant has taken over some o' hers."
"Assistant?"
Hagrid looked at the Head Table. There, seated next to Sprout, was an older, handsomer, only a little less clumsy Neville Longbottom. Right now he was trying to round up Brussels sprouts which he had spilled all over the table, much to Snape's consternation.
Hagrid was at a loss for what to do with Jade, so Cho picked her up again. "We'll see you later," Harry said, shaking Hagrid's hand.
"I'll be in my cabin. I'm Gryffindor in name, but I never was used ter sleepin' in the castle. I needs teh hear the wind, the crickets, the odd werewolf."
They left Hagrid to go back to his mates. "By the way, where will we be staying?" Harry asked.
"It may be too late to get a room in Hogsmeade. Let's ask McGonagall."
It was too late. Sirius offered his room-"No problem; I can kip with my motorcycle"-until McGonagall settled it. "You two can stay in Dumbledore's rooms. They're still the best we have, and he'd never forgive me if I didn't let you two stay there."
It was, to put it mildly, an interesting night's sleep.
They were up at dawn. As Cho fed Jade, Harry discovered that Dumbledore's private bath could easily hold them all, so the three of them spent an hour soaking and splashing and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Afterwards, while Jade happily lay in a pool of sunshine that came through the window, Cho and Harry slowly and gently made love on Dumbledore's bed-for the first time since Jade was born.
Breakfast was almost over when they entered the Great Hall; most of the students had gone to classes.
"Hungry?" Harry asked.
"For more than just food," Cho smiled. "This morning-it felt like we were doing it for the first time."
"You want to work up an appetite, then? Try something else for the first time in too long?"
"I know just what you mean. Let's take a look."
So they went to the Quidditch Stadium. Sure enough, there they found Madam Hooch, walking along the sidelines, inspecting the stands. They didn't have to say a word; she sensed they were there; turned and started briskly toward them-of course, she seemed to do everything briskly. "I heard the rumours," she beamed, "and I wondered when you two were going to show up."
"We'd have come here sooner if we'd arrived in daylight," Cho replied. "And we really need to talk, but first there's a bit of unfinished business."
"You see," Harry continued the thought, "Cho and I have only played two matches against each other, and we each won one. When the Death Eaters attacked Hogsmeade, we were trying to break the tie amongst ourselves."
"Say no more." Madam Hooch led them to a storage shed, where she pulled out two brooms. "You used to be pretty unevenly matched, as I recall; this should correct that." She handed each a Nimbus Two Thousand and One.
"These can't be school brooms, can they?"
"Slytherin House donated all their brooms when . when they heard about Draco Malfoy. A gesture, if you ask me. Nimbus had just announced the 2050 model. That was before the Ministry got into it, of course. They still haven't said the brooms will be approved for sale to the public; too much power, not enough control. An accident waiting to happen, if you ask me.
"But listen to me going on, then." She reached into a chest and got a Snitch. "If you don't mind my watching."
"Jade Chang Potter."
"Hullo, Miss Jade Chang Potter," Madam Hooch said, handing Harry the Snitch as she took the baby from Cho. "I'm going to teach you to fly in a few years time. Not that you'll need to learn much from me; your mummy and daddy were two of the best Seekers I ever saw, and I've seen them all. Saw the great Eunice Murray herself back in 'thirty-eight; it was she who got your Auntie Hooch into Quidditch. I was in the stands for seven straight days in 'fifty-three watching Glynnis Griffiths and the Holyhead Harpies. And I just know you are going to outshine them all."
Since Jade seemed to be in very good hands, they walked out to the center of the stadium, hand in hand.
"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Cho asked.
"You're not backing down, are you?"
"That did it. I was prepared to go easy on you, but that's off now."
"Oh, I've already won."
"And how do you figure that?"
Harry smiled and squeezed Cho's hand. "Because I have you, and Jade, and a few Galleons in the bank, and a half-decent broom. What else will I ever need?"
They kissed deeply, then mounted their brooms. Harry threw the Snitch straight up as hard as he could.
"Ready, steady, go!"
Harry and Cho kicked off the ground and were soaring through the sky over the stadium-back on brooms, back chasing the Snitch, back where they belonged.
THE END
3.12 Endings and Beginnings
[If you found your way this far, you don't need me to tell you that JK Rowling created the Potterverse, and is still creating it.]
"There are no happy endings, because nothing ends." from The Last Unicorn
xxx
Harry could hardly see, could hardly move, and had trouble hearing. But he recognized the voice of Madam Pomfrey. "It's amazing that he's lasted this long."
"The last bit of his mother's protection. Without it, he surely would have died with Voldemort." Dumbledore's voice. Harry vaguely wondered who they were talking about.
"Frankly, he may as well have died. You should have sent him to the Special Wing. I can ease the pain, but I don't think I can do much more."
"I've heard that . somewhere before," Harry muttered as he tried to wake himself up.
Then he realized: he was in Stasis. He remembered the fight against Voldemort, how the Dark Lord's own fear of death had led him to amass so much power. How that fear also tempted him to covet the phoenix Fawkes, which proved his undoing. And how he-Harry Potter-could only stop Voldemort from saving himself if Harry put his own life on the line.
"Congratulations, Mister Potter, but you really must get over this chronic habit of leaving the rest of us in your debt."
Harry's eyes-one of them bandaged-went wide at the voice. He actually tried to crawl away, even though he couldn't move anything.
"Rest easy, Harry," Dumbledore said in his usual kindly manner. "Professor Snape has accomplished his mission, as you have accomplished yours."
"He . was there ."
"As he was supposed to be," Dumbledore nodded. "Many were tempted to become Death Eaters, and some repented their actions. Severus Snape took the extraordinary step of becoming a double agent: pretending to be a Death Eater, but secretly keeping the Ministry informed of Voldemort's plans. He even sabotaged some of those plans himself."
"But . Hogsmeade ."
Snape spoke up: "I had no intention of letting the town lose one home or one life. My anger at you and Miss Chang was partly because of Sirius Black's involvement, and partly because your meddling might have compromised my own position."
"Then, that business with the complaint, and the leave of absence."
"Oh, that was all quite genuine," Dumbledore nodded. "We merely decided to take advantage of the timing. It allowed Severus to shift his base of operations from Hogwarts to Voldemort's inner circle."
Harry now noticed that Snape had something pinned to his robes; he recognized it as the Order of Merlin, First Class. Snape noticed Harry's gaze, and gave his approximation of a smile. "Ironic, isn't it, Mister Potter? Voldemort-and Megan Hawksaw, for that matter-preached that you should trust no one. They should have paid more attention to their own advice."
The ghost of Cho Chang floated in through the wall, past the assembled Hogwarts faculty and over to Harry's bedside. "Harry my love, you were magnificent."
"You too."
Dumbledore cleared his throat for attention. "Now that you are both here, I have something to say. All the gold of Gringotts couldn't begin to pay what we owe the both of you. Therefore, instead of the coin of the Realm, I can give you whatever you may wish, through whatever my magic can accomplish. You have but to ask."
Harry shifted in his bed. "I'll tell you the truth, Professor. I don't think life has many thrills to offer me any more. It certainly doesn't offer me Cho." He turned to the ghost. "Part of me wants-desperately wants-to go with you. Into the Great Mystery, as you call it, or even hang about here as a ghost myself. I want us to be together, but I feel like there's something I have to do here first."
Professor Flitwick spoke as best he could through his tears. "I wish you weren't going, Harry," he blubbered. "You still could teach us all a thing or two."
"Never fancied myself a teacher," Harry said, barely above a whisper. "But maybe..."
"Does this mean you're willing to stay?" Dumbledore asked. "The magic is here, if you wish it."
Harry turned to Cho. "No offense, Cho, but everything I've done here, even Quidditch, has been with someone else's help. I feel like I need to help someone else, the way others have helped me..."
"Oh, Harry," Cho interrupted, "stop being such a typical male. You're taking forever to get where you're going because you won't let anyone show you the way." Cho turned toward the others. "Harry wants what I want, even if he can't say it yet. I'm just afraid it's, well, rather a tall order."
"Tall orders are easy," Dumbledore smiled; "the impossible takes an extra day or two. What is your wish, Miss Chang?"
She bowed her head and bit her lip, and a small cloud of silver blush came to her cheeks. "I want a child," she smiled. "I want Harry's child."
Harry stared at Cho for a second, then chuckled and shook his head. Cho had gotten it exactly right. "No offense to any of you, but a parent is also a teacher. I never really knew that, because I never knew my parents. Well, I think that's the best kind of teacher I can become. I know I'm being selfish, but that's the only way I'd want to stay on earth: if I could be with Cho, and if I could help to raise our child...a child who's as beautiful and as clever and as full of love as her mother. Does that make me selfish?"
"No worse than me, because I'm just as selfish," Cho, gazing lovingly at Harry, continued the thought. "I want only to be united again on earth with Harry Potter, to conceive his child in love, to give birth to that child in joy, and to raise that child to be as brave and as wise and as compassionate as her father."
Hagrid was loudly blowing his nose into a grimy-looking handkerchief the size of a tablecloth.
Dumbledore stepped forward. "This is a very serious thing you are asking. Spells to return the dead to life take the greatest toll imaginable, and are often requested for the most selfish reasons. But in this case, you have demonstrated such greatness of spirit that even the Ministry would agree with me: you deserve no less.
"Just as there are forbidden curses which blight the will and inflict pain and death, so there are spells that draw their power from life and from love. Harry, surely you realize this, for until recently you carried the mark of such love on your forehead. Because they are the most powerful spells of all, they are also highly classified. Only a few may perform them, and, since I am the only one in this room with proper clearance from the Ministry, the rest of you should exchange your final words with the happy couple before they set off."
Madam Pomfrey didn't rush to Harry's side-after all, it was HER infirmary and she wasn't going anywhere yet-but the rest of the faculty crowded around the bed, wishing Harry and Cho good luck.
Madam Hooch looked like she was trying to keep herself under very tight control. "I'll be waiting," was all she said before she strode briskly out of the ward.
Hagrid stepped up next. "Well, I don't rightly know what the Perfessor's got up his sleeve, but it's like I said before. He's never lied to me, so I 'spects I'll see yer again right enough." One more sniffle, and Hagrid jammed the kerchief into one of his bottomless pockets. "So, like Olympe would say, this ain't 'adoo', but 'orry voyer.'"
"Au revoir, Rubeus Hagrid," Cho smiled.
"Professor Rubeus Hagrid," Harry corrected her, "my first teacher in the wizarding world, and my first friend."
Professor Snape hung back to be the last to speak. "Miss Chang, in the matter of your assault after the Battle of Hogsmeade; the headmaster punished you as he saw fit, and I have nothing to add--except that, perhaps, in this case, the punishment exceeded the crime. As this is probably my last chance to do so, I beg your pardon."
Cho rose, clasped her hands and bowed from the waist. "Your very gracious apology is accepted."
He turned towards Harry, who spoke first: "Excuse me for not bowing to you myself."
A bit of the old fire flared up in Snape's eyes, but only for a few seconds. "For six years now, you have dodged, evaded, insulted, tweaked, scorned, spurned and dismissed my every attempt to teach you anything useful to even the most unskilled wizard. But there was one thing you did not teach me until quite recently: that, in looking at you and seeing James Potter, I was horribly mistaken. In all humility, I ask your forgiveness."
Harry raised the less wounded of his two hands, which Professor Snape shook gingerly. "Of course, Professor; no harm done."
The sound of running footsteps echoed in the corridor, headed for the open infirmary door. Suddenly a figure in new black robes stood in the doorway.
"SIRIUS BLACK!" Madam Pomfrey screamed.
"What are you doing here, Sirius?" Snape snarled.
"Reporting for work, of course," Sirius said, striding quite jauntily into the room and smiling at one and all. "Seems the Headmaster has offered me the post teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"This is a joke!"
"No it's not, Severus, and neither is this." He pulled a scroll out of his robes and handed it to Snape. He unrolled, read and started sputtering like a cauldron over a high fire.
"A .a PARDON?!"
"Full, free and absolute," Dumbledore smiled. "I received your owl a while ago telling me, but it's so gratifying to see it set down in parchment, isn't it?"
"But, how."
"Pettigrew finally confessed to framing me all those years ago. Remus Lupin was there to back it up. Fudge didn't have a choice, really." Sirius took back his scroll from the astounded Snape. "Yes, one of Fudge's last acts as Minister."
"Last acts?" Pomfrey asked.
"He's stepping aside-for reasons of health; that's the official line, anyway. Fact is, he's made nothing but wrong decisions since this all began.
"Harry, I." Sirius paused, seeing the heavily bandaged, barely alive form of his godson. When he spoke again, it was more softly. "Got something to show you." He brought that something out of his robes. "Yew," he smiled. "Thirteen inches long exactly. Heartstring of a dragon, and I never felt anything so wonderful in my life. Harry, I don't know just how you did it, but you did it. You gave me my life back."
"As much as you gave me, it's only fair. You'll take care of those other things I asked you?"
"First thing in the morning," he smiled. Turning to Snape, he said, "So, where do I park my motorcycle?"
Snape's eyes were frosty as ever, but his voice carried amusement as he said, "Just don't let it loose in the Forbidden Forest. We've got a wild Ford Anglia in there; they could mate and produce a litter of motorized Muggle monstrosities."
Sirius roared with laughter as he clapped Snape on the back. "I think I'm going to like being back here."
Finally, there was only the three of them-Harry, Cho and Albus Dumbledore. "Children, there are several ways of bringing the dead back to life, although each requires a bit of a sacrifice. Miss Chang, were you buried or cremated?"
"Cremated."
"Ah. Well, that lets Re-animation right out. Just as well, too; it tends to get rather messy. There is also the Exchange method. As the name suggests, a living person surrenders his life force to bring back the dead."
"Which living person?" Harry asked.
"In this case, it would be me."
"I take back my wish, then," Cho said, shaking her head. "I won't live at your expense."
"It wouldn't be any trouble at all. I'm quite old, and I honestly believe that I haven't much time left on earth anyway. My list of accomplishments hardly needs to be longer than it already is."
"You know better than that, Professor," Harry said. "You can't expect either of us to agree to that."
"Frankly," the old wizard smiled, "I didn't expect you to agree. But I had to be sure. The Exchange has pushed all too many desperate souls into the embrace of the Dark Arts. That leaves only Transmigration."
"What's that, then?"
"When your souls are born into the bodies of others."
"But that sounds a bit like, well, being a vampire," Cho said.
"Believe me when I say there are a great many bodies walking about these days with no souls at all, and not all of them are Muggles. The odds are actually rather good that we can find two young people, of about your age and circumstances. Their bodies will become yours, and will enable your wish to be granted.
"You understand," Dumbledore warned them, "that things must be greatly different at first. For a time, you will forget all about Hogwarts and the entire wizarding world. You will live Muggle lives, remembering nothing of us and our world, but your memories will return, at the proper moment. For now, you're asking the universe to recreate itself, and, while no wizard can rewrite the past, sometimes the best we can hope for is a little fine tuning of the future." Harry and Cho nodded. "Take each other's hand."
They both wordlessly asked the same question: if Cho was a ghost--
"Take each other's hand," Dumbledore repeated.
His head swimming with hope and fear, Harry reached out toward Cho...and, for the first time since that awful August night, skin touched skin.
Harry and Cho stared into each other's eyes, barely hearing Dumbledore intone the word: "NOW!"
* * *
On a certain day, 8:00 a.m.
Harry Potter cursed himself. What was he thinking, signing up for an 8 a.m. lecture course? Of course it wasn't really his fault, he reflected; it was a required core course for freshmen at the University, and there was no choice. Stupid Uni regulations...
He threw himself down into a seat near the door, at the end of a bench of students attending (whether they chose to or not) the History of Modern Capitalism, taught by a Professor Snape, who at this moment was taking the roll:
"Barstow"
"Here, sir"
"Benton"
"Present"
"Chang"
"Present, sir"
This last voice came from the student sitting next to him. He turned to her, and was pleased to see a very pretty Chinese girl, whose long, straight, very black hair hung halfway down her back.
"Hi," he whispered.
"Hi yourself," she whispered back.
"You don't really want to be here, do you?"
"You taking a survey, then?"
"I just can't think why we're putting ourselves through this."
"What, don't you think this is fun and exciting?"
"SECOND CALL FOR HARRY POTTER!"
"Sorry, sir. Here, sir."
"Mister Potter," the professor broke off the roll call, "you may well find that, as the class progresses, we will be touching on a history that is not only vital in the formation of the modern world, but is as full of drama as anything on the television. You may find it so, that is, if you stop chatting up the other students. Purbridge."
"Here, sir."
xxx
9:00 a.m.
"Where did they find HIM?" Cho laughed as they fled the lecture hall.
"London School of Economics," Harry answered. After a slight pause: "Out back, under a rock."
Cho laughed again. Harry's jokes didn't always go over well-they were his way of coping in a world where he was on the short side, and where people thought his black-rimmed glasses told them more about him than did his vivid green eyes. But Cho was almost his height, and seemed to enjoy his company. He decided to take a chance.
"Say, er, what's the rest of your day like? I mean, if you're not busy for lunch."
"Booked solid, I'm afraid, Harry. This is a bad day; nothing but classes." She saw his crestfallen features, however, and had an idea. "But, how about dinner? I'm sharing a flat with some friends, but they'll be gone tonight, and I hate cooking for one."
"Yeah! I mean, that'll be great."
"It's not too far from here, but you'll walk right by it if you're not looking for it. I'll draw you a map." She tore the last page out of her notebook and started drawing.
Harry was stunned by his good luck: pretty, friendly, and willing to cook. This can't be real. "Er, Cho?"
"What?"
"If you don't mind my asking, why me? I mean, we only just met an hour ago."
"And yet it feels like we've known each other for years, right?" Harry stopped, realizing she was right. "You feel it too, then. Besides," she smiled, handing Harry the map, "I'm a pushover for green eyes."
"Should I bring anything?"
"A good red wine would be nice."
"Is there such a thing as a cheap good red wine? I don't have much money at the moment."
"That's all right, then. Just bring yourself.and those eyes."
7:15 p.m.
"Engineering? What made you choose that?"
"I dunno, really. It just seemed like a practical sort of major, and my aunt and uncle are always on me to do something really useful with my life."
"Well, what do your parents say?"
"They're . they're dead."
"I'm sorry, Harry. I shouldn't have said anything."
"No, it's all right; you couldn't have known. We were all in a car crash; I was a year old at the time. They were killed, and I guess I was thrown clear. All I had to show for it was a scar on my forehead, but that's faded away."
"Have they treated you well, your aunt and uncle?"
"Well enough, I guess. And I get on with their son Dudley. But for some reason I always feel like an outsider with them."
9:25 p.m.
"I've never been in anything exciting or unusual. My parents, though; they came over from China just before I was born. Apparently, they had a rough time of it. They don't like to talk about it, though."
"What do they do?"
"Import-export. They seem to do pretty well."
"So does my uncle, I guess. I never really thought about it."
"What do you think about?"
"Right at this moment? You."
"You're a smooth one, you are."
"No, I'm not. I mean, I don't usually get on this well with girls, no matter what I say."
"So you think this is another one of those 'we must have known each other in a previous life' moments."
"That's one way to explain it." There was a long and awkward pause. "Well, I guess I'd better go, unless you want to ask me something else." Please, Harry thought, ask me something else.
"Well, I've been wondering what else you usually don't do with the other girls."
12:17 a.m.
"Harry Potter, you are a rotten liar! You must have done it before!"
"No! Never!"
"Well, I've only done this twice before, but I never felt this-"
"You were saying?"
"Nope. Shan't tell you."
"Why not?"
"Don't want you walking around all day with a bloody great."
"Naughty!"
"ego! Now who's being naughty?"
"Cho, this is.well, it's crazy! I mean, I met you less than a day ago, and now here we are, and the one thing I want to do is jump out of this bed, throw open that window, stick my head out and yell, 'I love Cho Chang and I don't care who knows it!'"
"Do it, Harry! Yell whatever you like, and add a message from me."
"What's that?"
"Well, you can say that Cho Chang has also fallen in love with Harry Potter."
"You're joking!"
"You're right; it IS crazy, but I mean it!"
"Well, that's worth a shout or two. How do I open this.WHA!"
"Harry?!"
"I'm all right; just startled. But there's a bloody great owl outside your window!"
"There is not!"
"It's true! He was just sitting there, looking at me."
"Then save the shouting out the window part until later. Come back here."
So two of the most important people in the wizarding world, the two best Seekers ever to chase a Snitch at Hogwarts-and those responsible for the final and utter defeat of the Dark Lord-met again in the Muggle world, and fell in love again. They were as happy together there as they were at Hogwarts, but there was always a nagging sense that something was missing.
Cho took medical classes and became a pharmacist, but found it rather unsatisfying. She hardly used all the knowledge she accumulated in school, dismissing her job as "counting someone else's pills". And at times, she found herself in the broom and mop section of the local market, just standing there, trying to remember something important.
As for Harry Potter, one of the best Seekers Hogwarts ever knew was still flying, after a fashion. He got a degree in engineering and, despite his poor eyesight, became one of the youngest pilots ever to qualify as an international pilot for British Airways. Yet, like his wife, he couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't enough. He once told Cho that he could always tell when the job started getting to him, when he needed some time off: "when I start thinking about rolling down the window and letting a five hundred mile per hour breeze into the cockpit."
They didn't know what was wrong-only that something was missing. But that all changed the day that a long-ago wish was granted. On, of all days, one July thirty-first: Harry's birthday.
"Just about done now, missus."
"Hang in there, Cho."
"Easy for you to say." The rest of her words were lost to a sustained groan as-
"And there's the shoulders! Worst is over now, missus."
The rest of the baby gushed out, almost uncontrollably. "And here's your baby," the Jamaican nurse said; "a beautiful little girl."
As soon as the baby was born, Cho felt a sense of loss-she'd gotten so used to carrying this life inside her for the past few months, that at first she didn't know how she'd spend the rest of her life feeling so.empty. But the second she saw her daughter, she knew: I haven't lost a thing. Oh, I'll lose her someday, when she goes off to college, and gets married, but for now we're two lives that are one life. Like Harry and me.
"Do you have a name for her?" the nurse asked.
"We don't know yet," Harry smiled. " Could you dim these lights, please?"
"Well, yes, but."
"It's all right," Cho smiled. "We need to see the color of her eyes. If it's too bright in here, she won't open them."
The nurse dialed down the lights in the delivery room. After a minute, the newborn opened her eyes.
"Is that what mine look like from your side?" Harry asked, awestruck.
"Exactly the same."
"Then we know her name."
Jade Chang Potter seemed to be reaching for something, her vivid green eyes, set in a tiny replica of her mother's face, searching the room. Harry traced a finger across her face, and the moment he touched her lips she began sucking on his fingertip.
"Look at that, then! She's not shy. Give her the breast, missus."
Cho slid the gown off one shoulder, exposing a dark, swollen nipple. She squeezed the breast to start the flow, then brought the baby's mouth to it. The baby immediately started drawing milk.
"Oh, she knows what she wants. She's a smart one, missus. You already have her name down for Eton?"
Cho almost didn't hear the nurse, gazing in joyful fascination at the life she and Harry had created. But she looked at the nurse, and said "No." then stopped. An odd, almost giddy faraway look came to her eyes, as if she had awakened from a beautiful dream into an even more wonderful dawn. She looked at Harry, whose brilliant green eyes carried the same look. As they had so many times since they met, they said the same word at the same time, but this was a word that they didn't realize until then that they knew:
"Hogwarts"
xxx
Harry and Cho waited until the nurse took Cho back to her room. Then they talked. They talked well into the night, stopping whenever someone came into the room. Some (another word they didn't remember until that day) Muggle or other. They knew that they had to quit their jobs, draw out their resources, and effectively vanish from the world.
No sooner had they left the hospital the next day than they waved down a taxicab. It took them to a grimy, neutral looking pub sandwiched on a sidestreet between a bookstore and a music store. Most people wouldn't even know it was there.
They stood on the sidewalk for a minute. "Nervous?" Harry asked.
Cho nodded. "We don't know how much things have changed."
"Then let's find out." And they entered the Leaky Cauldron.
They needn't have worried. It seemed completely unchanged from when Harry first entered it so many years before. He even recognized one of the pub's long-standing customers, Doris Crockford, in her usual place by the hearth.
Harry stepped up to her. "Been a long time, Doris."
Doris looked up, tried to remember where she'd seen the face, then with a "Good heavens!!" almost fell out of her chair. "Tom! Tom!" she called to the owner. "Look who this is!"
Tim, the bald and withered old bartender, likewise first looked, then stared. "Glory be," he finally said, "but I didn't think I'd ever see it. Welcome back, Mister Potter."
"Mister and missus. You remember Cho Chang, I hope?"
"I'm not likely to forget; her folks still have the shop at the other end of the Alley. Congratulations to the both of ye. And how old is this little darling?"
"Just born yesterday."
"Well, then, you don't need to be keepin' her in a stuffy old place like this. Come by and see us when ye have the time. We want to hear all about ye."
As small as the pub was, it took a very long time for them to get through the crowd that seemed to come out of nowhere for congratulations and kisses, hugs and handshakes, and a great deal of cooing at the baby. Finally, they got to the backyard wall by the dustbins. The wall was already open onto Diagon Alley.
There were very few people about; but then, it was the very hottest part of August. They did see someone at the end of the lane: A little old Chinese lady, wearing a sweater in spite of the heat, sweeping the pavement. They got within six feet of her and she still hadn't noticed them.
Cho spoke, hesitantly: "Gran?"
Granny Li turned and looked. Her eyes went as wide as saucers. She dropped her broom, ran into the shop, turned right around, ran back out, grabbed her broom and ran back in. She could be heard shouting something in Chinese.
"Well?" Harry asked.
Even though she was smiling, Cho's eyes started to fill with tears. "She's saying, 'They've come back; they've come home.'"
Suddenly Granny Li was back at the door. "Why you wait there? In, in!" Cho carried Jade in, followed by Harry. As he passed Granny Li, she swatted him on the arse with her broom. "Good boy," she said as he looked at her; then she burst out cackling like a hag.
They spent that month in Diagon Alley both getting used to caring for the baby and getting used again to the wizarding world. Sometimes, the baby seemed to be the harder job, even though Jade had five grownups to dote on her. Cho heard lecture after endless lecture from her mother about how to care for a baby, but they all pitched in on feeding and bathing and diapering, or just watching this lovely little witch get introduced to the world.
There was lots else to do, of course. Their second night back, Harry and Cho were treated to a ten-course Chinese banquet by her family, to celebrate their marriage and the birth of the baby. The very next night, there was another ten-course Chinese banquet-this one hosted by the neighbouring Tan family. They didn't want to appear less than hospitable, and they also wanted to show that there were no hard feelings that Cho's engagement to their son hadn't been honoured.
"They couldn't very well say anything once I died, could they?" Cho whispered to Harry during one of several "no hard feelings" speeches given between courses by Mister Tan.
The real surprises came when they ventured into Diagon Alley. The first week they were back, they went to Gringotts to see about starting a joint account. When Harry mentioned his name, the goblin behind the desk gave him a particularly intense stare. After a minute, he jumped down from his stool, walked into the back offices, then walked back out with a letter.
"To be called for," he said, in an almost surly voice, as he handed the letter to Harry:
"Dear Harry:
First things first. DAMN YOU, YOU STUPID SOD! WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL US YOU WERE GOING TO FIGHT YOU-KNOW-WHO?! YOU COULD HAVE TRUSTED US; WE COULD HAVE HELPED, AND YOU NEVER GAVE US A CHANCE!!
Having said that-
I don't know what was the bigger surprise: Sirius showing up at Hogwarts as a free man, or his saying that you were giving your things away. It was no surprise that you'd near killed yourself in the fight, but then he says that you and Cho will be going off somewhere, to get married and have kids and all. Well, if anyone's earned the right to it, you have.
But if you think I'm going to go through your money like Cousin Dudley going through a cake, you'd better think again. If I did that, it would be like saying, 'That's it, I know he's never coming back.' And I know better than to think any such thing while you're around.
I don't know when you'll get this, so I don't know where I'll be. Hermy wants to go to Uni (of course!) but she can't make up her mind between U of Avalon or Old Heidelberg. As if I'd follow her to the Continent for a few years! (Well, maybe.)
Anyway, if you're reading this, you'll know to check in at the Burrow to find out where we are. We'll probably get an owl one day when we least expect it, and then we can get together again.
Once your classmate and always your friend,
Ron
PS: Dumbledore told us what happened to Draco. Who'd have thought the little git had it in him?
PPS: I'm not a total idjit; I'm DEFINITELY keeping your Firebolt!-until you ask for it back."
After that, the letter continued in another hand:
"Dear Harry and Cho,
I assume that, whenever you're reading this and whatever happened, you two are together. That's the way I'll always remember you, if we shouldn't meet again. But of course we will!
Ron wouldn't tell you, but things have gotten better for his family financially. With Fudge out as Minister of Magic, and Diggory as Interim Minister, Mr. Weasley's finally gotten the promotion and rise in salary he's deserved for so long.
Ron seems to think that I can't choose between universities. The fact is, Heidelberg is doing some of the best research in Muggle Studies genealogy. I would go there in a heartbeat, but I know Ron wouldn't come with me, and it's gotten to the place where I can't bear to be away from him for too long. (He feels the same, even though he'll never admit it.) I'm sure you understand. Anyway, I understand that Avalon has a lovely campus, and the Welsh Quidditch teams are perfectly fine (even if they aren't the Cannons).
Please write as soon as you can; I know we'll have so much to catch up on!
Hermione
PS: Thanks for the cloak. I'll take your advice as best I can, with a little help from my teacher."
Harry looked from the letter to the goblin, who probably wouldn't have waited a second longer. "Your key," he said, practically fuming at being made to wait.
"Key? To my old vault, you mean?"
"If your name is Harry Potter, it is."
"How, erm, how much."
"An accounting," the goblin said, pulling some papers out of his pocket and handing a slip to Harry.
Harry looked at the number, then stared at it. "Cho, does this mean what I think it means?"
Cho likewise looked, then stared, at the paper. "Well, among other things, it means you could pay the salary of a professional Quidditch team for a year."
"Wow," Harry said, trying not to raise his voice. He asked the goblin, "Can we put this account in both our names? And our daughter's, just in case?"
You would have thought he had asked the goblin to run to Edinburgh and back. "Follow me," he sighed, as he led them to a desk.
By the second week of August, Hogwarts supplies were in and students and parents began to fill the street. One time Harry and Cho were looking in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies when they heard two boys talking:
"I was upside-down, I tell you!"
"Pull the other one!"
"I swear! The Snitch was dive-bombing me! I had to back up to keep it from breaking every bone in my hand. I caught that one flying backwards!"
"Yeah, you and Harry Potter. Let's get some ice cream."
It was all Harry could do not to laugh out loud. As he looked away, he caught sight of a figure standing in the doorway to his shop: Mister Ollivander. Harry suddenly remembered that he'd lost his wand in the fight with Voldemort, and Cho's wand had been damaged in the bomb blast, and was burned when her body was burned.
As soon as they started walking to the store, Mr. Ollivander ducked back inside, and was halfway up a ladder when they entered. "People seek replacement wands under the strangest circumstances," he was saying, apparently to himself, "but I've surely never come across something like this before. No matter; I think we have just the thing here." He spoke even as he climbed down the ladder.
"Ladies first. Your first wand was willow, as I recall, unicorn hair, eleven inches. All well and good for a schoolgirl, but of course that was another time. You might try this; part of a shipment that arrived last week."
One wand caught Cho's eye immediately; a wand made of bamboo. No sooner did she pick it up than a shower of sparks flew out the end, cascading to the floor.
"Excellent, excellent. Nine inches of bamboo, heartstring from a Chinese Fireball. Not too many British wizards like this model, but it seems to suit you just fine.
"Now for Mister Potter." Harry started to sweat, remembering that it took forever for Mister Ollivander to find his first wand. "But we all learn from experience, don't we? If you'd be so kind."
From a tray with three wands on it, Harry selected one and picked it up. Large spheres of light-one gold, one silver-grew at the end of the wand, then broke away and floated through the shoppe, bathing everything in a peaceful glow.
"Wonderful!" Ollivander exclaimed. "This one was waiting for you, Mister Potter. Formerly nine inches of holly, if I remember correctly, and now twelve inches of rowan wood, with a phoenix feather. Not the same phoenix as your last wand, but of course you're hardly the same as you were."
"How does it feel?" Cho asked.
"Like we're finally back home," Harry smiled.
With a week to go before Hogwarts classes started again, Harry and Cho had gone to Madam Malkin's. They just wanted some robes for everyday; they were beginning to feel conspicuous in their Muggle attire. As they left Malkin's they heard the voice: "Well, I knew this day would come, but it's still a pleasant surprise."
There on the pavement stood Minerva McGonagall, looking unchanged from the last time they had seen her.
They went to the Leaky Cauldron for refreshments and to catch up on what had changed.
"The main change at Hogwarts seems to be my job description," McGonagall said. "I am now Acting Headmistress, after the departure of Albus Dumbledore."
"That's such a shame," Cho said. "How did it happen?"
"You misunderstand. He didn't die; he departed. We found a note on the Head Table one morning, saying that there was a rumour he needed to verify, and to keep things running along until he got back." A strange look came over McGonagall's face. "That was almost two years ago."
"Surely he's all right, isn't he?"
"Harry, we haven't heard a word from him-not directly, at any rate. There have been sightings in Latvia, rumors that he was in Mongolia--always many weeks after the fact. The truth is that nobody really knows."
"I'd love to spend a day or two back at Hogwarts, just to look about," Cho sighed. "But we'd probably disrupt things."
"Personally," McGonagall smiled, "I can't think of a nicer disruption. When I get back, I'll send an owl along with two tickets. It'll be grand having you back."
So it was that Jade Chang Potter got her first look at Hogwarts-and the Hogwarts Express-when she was barely one month old. The train trip was as long as ever but interesting, especially when the old witch pushed the cart up to their compartment. Harry bought a pack of Chocolate Frogs for old time's sake.
He looked at the cards, and started to laugh. He could hardly speak as he passed the cards to Cho.
She got the joke immediately and started laughing along with Harry. They were laughing at two of the wizard cards-one which said that Cho Chang was killed in a bomb blast, the other which said that Harry Potter died while battling Lord Voldemort. These would be collector's items.
xxx
They stood at the door of the Great Hall, Harry craning his neck to see the Head Table.
"Funny, I can't see him. You'd think he'd be hard to miss."
"He isn't," Cho chuckled; "you're just looking at the wrong table." She pointed down the hall, to the far end of the Gryffindor table.
Harry was off like a shot, leaving Cho to catch up. He grabbed onto the very large student in very large black robes.
"HAGRID?"
Hagrid turned his squinty black eyes on Harry, trying to place him at first, then he took both of Harry's hands in his, nearly crushing them. "It's you! It really is you an' all!"
Cho caught up. "It's been a long time, Hagrid. This doesn't mean you're not on the faculty?"
"Truth is, I consider this a step up." He turned to the other Gryffindors around him, who were watching in amusement. "Gotta say hello to me old mates; you unnerstan'." He walked them to a corner of the Great Hall.
"What kind of step up?"
"Well, when my name was cleared and they made me a teacher here, I thought I'd gone as high as I ever could in life. I mean, considerin' I'd never finished here in the first place. But I been spendin' summers with Olympe Maxim; I 'spects yeh remember her."
They nodded. Cho asked, "Is she still Headmistress at Beauxbatons?"
"Yeh, an' things got a little sticky between us awhile back. She says she can' be goin' anywhere wi' me 'cause I'm jus' a gamekeeper. Well, we had some right words after that, an' finally she says she din't mean anythin' insultin', but she knows I have the brains ter do better in life. So I talks it over wi' Professor Dumbledore an', well, here I am. An' I mean to graduate this time 'round, get me wand back an' all."
"That's great, Hagrid! We'll be cheering for you."
"Yeh, well, I'm still worried about the OWLs. Prob'ly have teh study day an' night fer 'em."
"You can do it," Cho smiled.
Hagrid looked at Cho, and seemed torn about something-wanting to ask a question, but also wanting not to ask.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, Harry, I don' think I should say, but . well . it's about yer ."
Cho understood. "Hold out your hands."
As Hagrid did so, Cho rested the baby on his palms. There was almost as much room as in her crib. "Her name's Jade."
"Ooh, lookit her, so tiny an' all." Hagrid brought his face closer to Jade, who seemed to find his beard interesting, passing her hands through it a few times.
"But you're not Groundkeeper any more?"
"Wha? No, I din't say that. Madam Sprout's took over some o' my duties, just as her assistant has taken over some o' hers."
"Assistant?"
Hagrid looked at the Head Table. There, seated next to Sprout, was an older, handsomer, only a little less clumsy Neville Longbottom. Right now he was trying to round up Brussels sprouts which he had spilled all over the table, much to Snape's consternation.
Hagrid was at a loss for what to do with Jade, so Cho picked her up again. "We'll see you later," Harry said, shaking Hagrid's hand.
"I'll be in my cabin. I'm Gryffindor in name, but I never was used ter sleepin' in the castle. I needs teh hear the wind, the crickets, the odd werewolf."
They left Hagrid to go back to his mates. "By the way, where will we be staying?" Harry asked.
"It may be too late to get a room in Hogsmeade. Let's ask McGonagall."
It was too late. Sirius offered his room-"No problem; I can kip with my motorcycle"-until McGonagall settled it. "You two can stay in Dumbledore's rooms. They're still the best we have, and he'd never forgive me if I didn't let you two stay there."
It was, to put it mildly, an interesting night's sleep.
They were up at dawn. As Cho fed Jade, Harry discovered that Dumbledore's private bath could easily hold them all, so the three of them spent an hour soaking and splashing and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Afterwards, while Jade happily lay in a pool of sunshine that came through the window, Cho and Harry slowly and gently made love on Dumbledore's bed-for the first time since Jade was born.
Breakfast was almost over when they entered the Great Hall; most of the students had gone to classes.
"Hungry?" Harry asked.
"For more than just food," Cho smiled. "This morning-it felt like we were doing it for the first time."
"You want to work up an appetite, then? Try something else for the first time in too long?"
"I know just what you mean. Let's take a look."
So they went to the Quidditch Stadium. Sure enough, there they found Madam Hooch, walking along the sidelines, inspecting the stands. They didn't have to say a word; she sensed they were there; turned and started briskly toward them-of course, she seemed to do everything briskly. "I heard the rumours," she beamed, "and I wondered when you two were going to show up."
"We'd have come here sooner if we'd arrived in daylight," Cho replied. "And we really need to talk, but first there's a bit of unfinished business."
"You see," Harry continued the thought, "Cho and I have only played two matches against each other, and we each won one. When the Death Eaters attacked Hogsmeade, we were trying to break the tie amongst ourselves."
"Say no more." Madam Hooch led them to a storage shed, where she pulled out two brooms. "You used to be pretty unevenly matched, as I recall; this should correct that." She handed each a Nimbus Two Thousand and One.
"These can't be school brooms, can they?"
"Slytherin House donated all their brooms when . when they heard about Draco Malfoy. A gesture, if you ask me. Nimbus had just announced the 2050 model. That was before the Ministry got into it, of course. They still haven't said the brooms will be approved for sale to the public; too much power, not enough control. An accident waiting to happen, if you ask me.
"But listen to me going on, then." She reached into a chest and got a Snitch. "If you don't mind my watching."
"Jade Chang Potter."
"Hullo, Miss Jade Chang Potter," Madam Hooch said, handing Harry the Snitch as she took the baby from Cho. "I'm going to teach you to fly in a few years time. Not that you'll need to learn much from me; your mummy and daddy were two of the best Seekers I ever saw, and I've seen them all. Saw the great Eunice Murray herself back in 'thirty-eight; it was she who got your Auntie Hooch into Quidditch. I was in the stands for seven straight days in 'fifty-three watching Glynnis Griffiths and the Holyhead Harpies. And I just know you are going to outshine them all."
Since Jade seemed to be in very good hands, they walked out to the center of the stadium, hand in hand.
"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Cho asked.
"You're not backing down, are you?"
"That did it. I was prepared to go easy on you, but that's off now."
"Oh, I've already won."
"And how do you figure that?"
Harry smiled and squeezed Cho's hand. "Because I have you, and Jade, and a few Galleons in the bank, and a half-decent broom. What else will I ever need?"
They kissed deeply, then mounted their brooms. Harry threw the Snitch straight up as hard as he could.
"Ready, steady, go!"
Harry and Cho kicked off the ground and were soaring through the sky over the stadium-back on brooms, back chasing the Snitch, back where they belonged.
THE END