Cho Chang: boy catnip (seekingcho) wrote in acciogoblet, @ 2012-11-24 11:48:00 |
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The path from the library to the Ravenclaw common room was a familiar one for Cho, who had walked it countless times over the years. But most of those times hadn’t been on a Friday, and it made the journey feel a little bit different. More relaxing, knowing that when she got back to her dormitory her weekend would truly begin. Cho didn’t normally study on Fridays, but with Hogsmeade on Saturday and an Arithmancy essay due Monday, she’d made an exception today. Only it seemed like she’d spent as much time thinking about the Triwizard Tournament as she had thinking about Arithmancy. Well, she would just have to work harder on Sunday, then. Her book bag felt, as it always did at the end of the week, as if it were full of bricks. When she finally reached her dormitory, Cho heaved the bag onto her bed, letting out a sigh of relief. Marietta did a bit of studying every day. It was a good habit her mum had instilled in her, and besides, she needed to if she wanted to pass her OWLs. Her life would be so much easier if Transfiguration and Potions and important subjects came as easily to her as Divination, but apparently, that was not to be her fate. Instead of the Library, Marietta had chosen her bedroom for today’s studying, hoping the quiet and lack of people would help her focus more - with the foreign students at the school it seemed as though there were more people in the Library than ever before, and she didn’t particularly like it. “Hello, Cho,” she said as her best friend came in, glad to give her eyes a break from the Herbology she was reading, “How did your studying go?” “Oh, you know, it was studying,” Cho responded airily, not really wanting to dwell on the subject. “I definitely still have more work to do over the weekend to finish my essay.” She sat down on her bed, moving her bag out of the way and arranging herself among the pillows. Her eyes cast around the room and settled on the badge on Marietta’s desk, which was currently broadcasting the message POTTER STINKS. “I think it’s awful that they do that, you know,” she said, pointing. “Supporting Cedric is one thing, but there’s no need to be so rude to Harry.” Marietta glanced over at her badge, frowning a bit. “I do prefer the ‘Support Cedric Diggory’ side,” she admitted, “as he is our true champion, but surely Harry Potter knew that by cheating he was sure to get some flak for it. Maybe if he didn’t want there to be badges like this around he ought to have thought about it before he put his name in the Goblet.” And really, that was that. Actions had consequences in Marietta’s opinion. She’d learned that from the time she was old enough to tell right from wrong. And while her mum always wanted her to be polite, and Marietta did her best, Marietta found it hard to believe that Maria Edgecombe would disapprove of her daughter sporting her badge when Harry Potter had cheated the system. Cho bit her lip, thinking it over. As usual, Marietta made some good points. But it just seemed to her that the whole thing had gone too far. People were using this as an excuse to attack Harry, and from the way he’d snapped at her when she tried to return his quill that afternoon, she guessed that a lot of them had been bringing his parents into it, which was definitely crossing a line. “Well, I know you’re being reasonable and polite about it,” which in Cho’s opinion wasn’t entirely true based on what Marietta wrote in her journal, “but that doesn’t mean that everybody is. Some people are even making awful comments about his parents. Don’t you think that’s uncalled for?” There was no love lost for Harry Potter for Marietta, it was true. Like all wizards who grew up knowing about him, she had been excited to learn that he was coming to Hogwarts, but seeing the obvious preferential treatment he’d received (Quidditch team as a first year? Really?) and how it ended up hurting others (the way Professor Dumbledore allowed the Slytherins to think they’d won the House Cup her second year and then changed it during the feast to show off Harry Potter had seemed unfair to them) had left her not at all enamoured with the Boy Who Lived rather quickly. And since he was so close to the Headmaster, in Marietta’s opinion he could put a stop to it rather quickly if he wanted to, but seemed to bask in the glow of how he was treated instead. Was it any wonder that others would grow resentful of him quickly? Still... “That’s not right,” Marietta agreed, “One shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, no matter how their offspring are acting. They can’t defend themselves, after all.” Marietta had only heard good things about her own father, but could imagine how hurt she would be if someone spoke badly about him. Maybe he did cry about them every night like he said in the article. “He shouldn’t have given that interview though. It was bound to make things worse.” “Maybe he shouldn’t have,” Cho conceded with a frown. Though from what the Beauxbatons girl had written in her journal, it sounded like all the champions gave interviews. And if they all did it then maybe it was part of the tournament, and if it was part of the tournament then he wouldn’t be allowed to not do it, just like he wasn’t allowed to not compete after his name came out of the goblet... But Cho knew that it was no use sharing these thoughts with Marietta. “I’m sorry, am I interrupting your studying?” She flashed an apologetic smile. “I tend to think that since we’re in the dorm I can talk to you whenever I want, but you should say something if I’m bothering you!” Even if he’d been forced to give the interview, there were some things he probably should have kept to himself - the crying over his parents every night for example, but what was done was done. This was evidently something she and Cho were not going to see completely eye to eye on, and maybe it was better to drop it. Still, although Marietta personally did think that Harry Potter was annoying, maybe she would see about a badge that stayed on supporting Cedric. “When am I ever not studying?’” Marietta laughed, closing her Herbology text. “Sometimes I think if you didn’t bring me up for air once in awhile, I would get lost in it. There’s just so much pressure to do well on everything!” Now that was something Cho could agree with. “I know! I always thought that N.E.W.T.s were the important ones, and that O.W.L.s were sort of practice. But now everybody keeps talking about how they’ll decide our whole futures, it seems like.” For the most part, Cho was taking it in stride, but it did feel good to vent every once in a while, especially to her best friend. “I think those are important too, unfortunately,” Marietta said, wrinkling her nose, “but Mum always seems to remind me every letter she sends that if I don’t get a certain score on certain OWLs I won’t be able to get into that NEWT class and then I won’t get a good career at the Ministry and then where will I be.” While Marietta doubted she had the personality to become a good diplomat like her father had been, her mother’s dearest wish, she knew her mum would be content if Marietta could get any good job at the Ministry... and as that was something Marietta wanted herself...she had to power through exams somehow. “I know I’ve said this before,” she said, now lost in her train of thought about classes and exams, “But there’s something about Professor Moody I just don’t like. It makes paying attention in Defence quite difficult.” "His eye is really creepy," Cho agreed. "I thought I might get used to it, but I really haven't. And the way he teaches is so..." She trailed off, not wanting to say scary, though that was really what she meant. "He makes me feel bad about myself for not being great at defense. We're just learning, but it's as if he expects us to know everything already so we don't die tomorrow." Cho always did better with professors who were nurturing and encouraging to all their students, professors who made her feel like they believed in her. “The eye makes me feel like...he can read my thoughts? I know that sounds really silly, because obviously an eye can’t do that, even a magical one, but there is that feeling of not being able to hide at all. And I know what you mean about making us feel bad about not knowing Defence!” Marietta grimaced. She had done fairly well with Professor Lupin last year - he’d been a very good teacher, but having a new teacher every year made keeping up really hard for her, “I am sure this must seem like nothing to him after being an Auror for so many years, but he needs to remember that we don’t have all those years of experience behind us.” She shook her head, curls flying out of her quick bun. “This is too depressing of talk for a Friday afternoon.” “Right,” Cho agreed quickly, grinning at the chaos that was Marietta’s hair. She jumped off her bed and leaned over her trunk, fetching her cloak. “Let’s go for a walk and leave the depressing talk behind.” |