Two Fics (No Challenge)
Title: Unbroken
Summary: “I’m Cho Chang,” she says, and Marietta knows that she’s someone special from that very moment on. Written as a gift for bluemermaid.
Characters/Pairings: Cho/Marietta.
Genre: Angst/Romance.
Beta: None.
Rating/Warnings: PG-13, slightly darker themes.
Medium: Fic.
Word Count: 1120.
Can the Order post to Tumblr?: No.
Marietta remembers the first time she saw Cho Chang.
She was one of the many eleven year olds swept up in the sea of boarding students on the Hogwarts Express; albeit she was on the smaller side, and found herself getting jostled from all sides as she tugged her trunk along with her.
She bursts into the first compartment she comes across, which happens to be empty, save for one girl who looks to be her age staring at the window and waving at someone, probably her family.
Suddenly the train starts, making a long toot as it begins to chuff away from the platform.
And in that dying half-light between the station and the outside world, she turns around, her face glowing underneath the shadows.
“I’m Cho Chang,” she says, and Marietta knows that she’s someone special from that very moment on.
////Cho is just a few people before her in the Sorting ceremony.
“Chang, Cho.”
She walks forward, her chin held high as she places the hat that will decide her fate on her small head, carefully adjusting it as to not ruin her hair.
Marietta holds her breath for that moment.
“RAVENCLAW!”
She tumbles down the steps, her hair flying behind her and grazing Marietta’s cheek. Time slows down as Marietta’s eyes follow her, meeting hers for a split second as Cho sends her the smallest wink before sitting at her table, introducing herself in her musical voice that Marietta would love to listen to more.
“Edgecombe, Marietta.”
She shuffles forward, trying to seem self-confident like Cho but failing. As the Hat settles its self on her head, she catches Cho’s startling gaze on her before the world fades around her.
The murmurs are crinkling scrolls in her ears. She can hear her rapid breaths, her pounding heart, and, “I’m Cho Chang,” repeating over and over.
“RAVENCLAW!”
Her eyes widen as she stares at Cho. This girl, who she’s barely known for a few hours, is already some sort of pivotal point in her life.
She doesn’t know much more than her name, her love of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, and that they’re now in the same House, but she feels as if she’s known her forever.
Marietta smiles back.
////That was first year. Now it is early in the morning of their fifth year together, and she is silently braiding Cho’s silky hair as Cho’s hands apply make-up on her eyes.
Cedric Diggory. How Marietta hates him.
Oh, he was a fine person on his own - but now, in all his Champion, Hufflepuff Seeker glory, he was the one who stole Cho’s young heart for the first time. Her first love.
Marietta doesn’t understand. Why does she wish that she would get rejected? So that she would run back to her and stop talking about him all the time?
“Mari? Are you all right? Your braids are too tight.”
“Sorry,” she mumbles, undoing her handiwork and running her fingers through the black strands, sighing as she remembers their first year.
////She’s a glass doll now. Marietta is afraid that if she breathes the wrong way, Cho will break.
It’s been like this ever since Cedric’s untimely death. She shut herself off completely, not talking to even her.
Marietta’s heart would break apart all over again every night, hearing Cho crying into her pillow, trying to hide her sorrow.
Why didn’t she understand that she had a should to cry in? Why didn’t she understand that she didn’t have to hide anything?
Why didn’t she understand that Marietta was there?
“Cho? she asks softly at the door of their dormitory, watching her struggle to pin her hair up with her trembling hands.
“I’m fine,” she reassures. “Go on without me. I’ll join you.”
She’s lying. She’s always lying. All her life is now is a tower of lies.
Cho never comes. If she shows up for class at all, she isn’t paying attention at all, just sitting there with a glassy glazing over her eyes. And she never comes for meals.
She’s not tricking Marietta. She’s seen how thin she’s become, how the bags under her eyes are always there.
“Cho,” she says more firmly this time, and she breaks down, her pretty butterfly hair pin dropping to the floor and shattering.
Marietta moves towards her and quickly wraps her arms around her small frame, pulling her best friend into her warm hold.
Her uniform shirt is quickly getting soaked. Cho’s mascara is running everywhere. Her nose is runny and her eyes are overflowing.
This moment is both the most ugly and the most beautiful Marietta has ever seen Cho.
“Cho,” she says again, and Cho nods, looking up at her through her half-lidded eyes, blinking away tears.
“You’re loved,” Marietta says simply, hugging her tightly. “Don’t leave me now.”
Marietta has always been a girl of few words.
Cho’s only response is her fist tightening, clenching Marietta’s shirt. She doesn’t have to say anything, because Marietta will read between the lines, read the silence, look into her eyes; she always has and she always will.
“You’re stronger than this,” Marietta tells her. “You will not break. Remember him, but remember yourself too.”
She rubs circles into her back. “Remember you in first year? Be that girl. Be that happy girl with no cares in the world.”
“I’ve changed. She’s gone, that little girl,” Cho mumbles. “I lost her a long time ago.”
“No.” Marietta takes ahold of Cho’s shoulders and looks her in the eye. “She’s still inside you. You just have to find her.”
Cho gazes at her, and Marietta says, “Because I know you, and I know that you’re not a glass doll. I know that you’re a strong, caring girl that stands up for her friends and her beliefs and I know that you’re a girl with big dreams and and a bigger heart and I know that you still dream of sloppy first kisses and baking brownies and I know you, Cho, are not someone who will let someone who loved you break you.”
The words run out of her mouth like water. “I love you, Cho Chang, for everything you are and I have ever since I first met you. You’re not perfect but you’re Cho and that’s all that I need.”
“And-” Marietta’s voice cracks, tears flowing down her cheeks. “And I don’t know what I’ll do if you don’t come back to me.”
Cho’s lips softly touch hers. Marietta blinks in surprise, her fingers touching her lips that still tingle with the feather touch of Cho’s warm mouth.
“I never left,” she says, smiling softly. “And I don’t plan on leaving any time soon.”
Title: Class Romance
Summary: History of Magic class, also known as the birthplace of some of the oddest romantic situations. Written as a gift for bluemermaid.
Characters/Pairings: Luna, Ginny, Draco, Astoria, Pansy, Neville, Cho, Marietta, and Professor Binns...and a whole lot of overlapping pairings.
Genre: Humor/Romance.
Beta: None.
Rating/Warnings: PG-13, and kind of border-line crackiness?
Medium: Fic.
Word Count: 704.
Can the Order post to Tumblr?: No.
History of Magic is perhaps the one class in the school that no one pays attention to. Even the Ravenclaws can’t pay attention (mostly because they already memorized the entire textbook) in that dusty old classroom with the mundane voice of Professor Binns lulling them into a quiet, irresistible afternoon nap.
Today, the sun filters through the yellowed glass windows, and the fourth years daydream about romance.
Ginny, sitting next to a window, rests her head in her cheek, her eyes scanning the room as her fiery hair cascades down her shoulders and over the desk. They eventually come to rest on a certain blonde, who’s dreaming the class away as well.
Luna, sitting near the front of the room, is twiddling a strand of her hair while watching the Wrackspurts and wondering about the meaning of life in general. Some wonder why she was in Ravenclaw in the first place, but she was still smart in her own way. She could probably take the O.W.L. for this class right now and still get a decent score, even though she has never once listened to him in her past four years of education.
However, she does know Ginny is staring at her. She always does in this class.
Luna doesn’t really know why though. She thinks that it must be the Dabberblimps.
On the other side of the classroom, there is a blond Slytherin, who is smirking to himself in a way that either makes him extremely creepy or extremely narcissistic as he stares at the redhead on the far side of the classroom.
Ginny Weasley. She’s a Pureblood on the wrong side, and oh, how much he’d love it if she fell head over heels for him.
But, you know, it’s just the teenage hormones. It’s not like Draco actually cares about her or something. She’s just another girl to sleep with, and playing a bit hard to get can be fun.
Behind him is a girl in the same House, with hair as black as Ginny’s is red, sitting in the same fashion as the redhead and staring at the back of Draco’s head.
Draco Malfoy is a fabulous man, in Astoria’s young mind. He’s handsome and hot and oh-so-pretty, and his hair...well, there was nothing wrong with a man that appreciated hair gel.
Her fantasies of him begin to sky-rocket from a simple date to a night of passion and she feels herself blushing as she stares at his shoulder blades.
Meanwhile, Pansy Parkinson, like the devilish girl she is, has her eyes alternating between the other two Slytherins.
She wouldn’t mind having either of them.
Unbeknownst to Pansy, Neville is staring at her, twiddling his clammy fingers and wondering why he had fallen for such a nasty girl, who definitely hated him and everything about him.
Well, her personality was definitely lacking, but Neville couldn’t say that he didn’t appreciate the view. And, well, Neville was pretty sure he had a flower fetish.
Luna’s eyes glanced towards Neville accidentally. She shakes herself and thinks that the Dabberblimps are finally coming after her, and prays for forgiveness.
Cho and Marietta are secretly holding hands under the table in the opposite corner, laughing at their romanticized class under their breaths. They think they’re tricking everyone, but they all know that they have a thing for each other.
Luna is staring into space (Marietta always thought she was barmy); Ginny is gazing at her wistfully; Draco is staring at her like a lovesick puppy; Astoria is burning a hole into the back of his head; Pansy is relaxing in the back of the room, imagining Draco and Astoria and her all together in one steamy moment; Neville is staring at her like she’s an Amazon goddess; Luna’s rubbing her eyes like they’re infected; and Marietta and Cho are playing footsie in the corner.
All in one History of Magic class. (How romantic.)
“What’s so amazing in this class that no one ever pays attention to me?” Professor Binns thinks to himself as he rambles on about something or the other.
His old and wary eyes catch on to the map of stares and romantic fantasies being thrown around the room, and he smiles to himself.
Ah, young love.
Points Earned: 61!
Summary: “I’m Cho Chang,” she says, and Marietta knows that she’s someone special from that very moment on. Written as a gift for bluemermaid.
Characters/Pairings: Cho/Marietta.
Genre: Angst/Romance.
Beta: None.
Rating/Warnings: PG-13, slightly darker themes.
Medium: Fic.
Word Count: 1120.
Can the Order post to Tumblr?: No.
Marietta remembers the first time she saw Cho Chang.
She was one of the many eleven year olds swept up in the sea of boarding students on the Hogwarts Express; albeit she was on the smaller side, and found herself getting jostled from all sides as she tugged her trunk along with her.
She bursts into the first compartment she comes across, which happens to be empty, save for one girl who looks to be her age staring at the window and waving at someone, probably her family.
Suddenly the train starts, making a long toot as it begins to chuff away from the platform.
And in that dying half-light between the station and the outside world, she turns around, her face glowing underneath the shadows.
“I’m Cho Chang,” she says, and Marietta knows that she’s someone special from that very moment on.
////Cho is just a few people before her in the Sorting ceremony.
“Chang, Cho.”
She walks forward, her chin held high as she places the hat that will decide her fate on her small head, carefully adjusting it as to not ruin her hair.
Marietta holds her breath for that moment.
“RAVENCLAW!”
She tumbles down the steps, her hair flying behind her and grazing Marietta’s cheek. Time slows down as Marietta’s eyes follow her, meeting hers for a split second as Cho sends her the smallest wink before sitting at her table, introducing herself in her musical voice that Marietta would love to listen to more.
“Edgecombe, Marietta.”
She shuffles forward, trying to seem self-confident like Cho but failing. As the Hat settles its self on her head, she catches Cho’s startling gaze on her before the world fades around her.
The murmurs are crinkling scrolls in her ears. She can hear her rapid breaths, her pounding heart, and, “I’m Cho Chang,” repeating over and over.
“RAVENCLAW!”
Her eyes widen as she stares at Cho. This girl, who she’s barely known for a few hours, is already some sort of pivotal point in her life.
She doesn’t know much more than her name, her love of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, and that they’re now in the same House, but she feels as if she’s known her forever.
Marietta smiles back.
////That was first year. Now it is early in the morning of their fifth year together, and she is silently braiding Cho’s silky hair as Cho’s hands apply make-up on her eyes.
Cedric Diggory. How Marietta hates him.
Oh, he was a fine person on his own - but now, in all his Champion, Hufflepuff Seeker glory, he was the one who stole Cho’s young heart for the first time. Her first love.
Marietta doesn’t understand. Why does she wish that she would get rejected? So that she would run back to her and stop talking about him all the time?
“Mari? Are you all right? Your braids are too tight.”
“Sorry,” she mumbles, undoing her handiwork and running her fingers through the black strands, sighing as she remembers their first year.
////She’s a glass doll now. Marietta is afraid that if she breathes the wrong way, Cho will break.
It’s been like this ever since Cedric’s untimely death. She shut herself off completely, not talking to even her.
Marietta’s heart would break apart all over again every night, hearing Cho crying into her pillow, trying to hide her sorrow.
Why didn’t she understand that she had a should to cry in? Why didn’t she understand that she didn’t have to hide anything?
Why didn’t she understand that Marietta was there?
“Cho? she asks softly at the door of their dormitory, watching her struggle to pin her hair up with her trembling hands.
“I’m fine,” she reassures. “Go on without me. I’ll join you.”
She’s lying. She’s always lying. All her life is now is a tower of lies.
Cho never comes. If she shows up for class at all, she isn’t paying attention at all, just sitting there with a glassy glazing over her eyes. And she never comes for meals.
She’s not tricking Marietta. She’s seen how thin she’s become, how the bags under her eyes are always there.
“Cho,” she says more firmly this time, and she breaks down, her pretty butterfly hair pin dropping to the floor and shattering.
Marietta moves towards her and quickly wraps her arms around her small frame, pulling her best friend into her warm hold.
Her uniform shirt is quickly getting soaked. Cho’s mascara is running everywhere. Her nose is runny and her eyes are overflowing.
This moment is both the most ugly and the most beautiful Marietta has ever seen Cho.
“Cho,” she says again, and Cho nods, looking up at her through her half-lidded eyes, blinking away tears.
“You’re loved,” Marietta says simply, hugging her tightly. “Don’t leave me now.”
Marietta has always been a girl of few words.
Cho’s only response is her fist tightening, clenching Marietta’s shirt. She doesn’t have to say anything, because Marietta will read between the lines, read the silence, look into her eyes; she always has and she always will.
“You’re stronger than this,” Marietta tells her. “You will not break. Remember him, but remember yourself too.”
She rubs circles into her back. “Remember you in first year? Be that girl. Be that happy girl with no cares in the world.”
“I’ve changed. She’s gone, that little girl,” Cho mumbles. “I lost her a long time ago.”
“No.” Marietta takes ahold of Cho’s shoulders and looks her in the eye. “She’s still inside you. You just have to find her.”
Cho gazes at her, and Marietta says, “Because I know you, and I know that you’re not a glass doll. I know that you’re a strong, caring girl that stands up for her friends and her beliefs and I know that you’re a girl with big dreams and and a bigger heart and I know that you still dream of sloppy first kisses and baking brownies and I know you, Cho, are not someone who will let someone who loved you break you.”
The words run out of her mouth like water. “I love you, Cho Chang, for everything you are and I have ever since I first met you. You’re not perfect but you’re Cho and that’s all that I need.”
“And-” Marietta’s voice cracks, tears flowing down her cheeks. “And I don’t know what I’ll do if you don’t come back to me.”
Cho’s lips softly touch hers. Marietta blinks in surprise, her fingers touching her lips that still tingle with the feather touch of Cho’s warm mouth.
“I never left,” she says, smiling softly. “And I don’t plan on leaving any time soon.”
Title: Class Romance
Summary: History of Magic class, also known as the birthplace of some of the oddest romantic situations. Written as a gift for bluemermaid.
Characters/Pairings: Luna, Ginny, Draco, Astoria, Pansy, Neville, Cho, Marietta, and Professor Binns...and a whole lot of overlapping pairings.
Genre: Humor/Romance.
Beta: None.
Rating/Warnings: PG-13, and kind of border-line crackiness?
Medium: Fic.
Word Count: 704.
Can the Order post to Tumblr?: No.
History of Magic is perhaps the one class in the school that no one pays attention to. Even the Ravenclaws can’t pay attention (mostly because they already memorized the entire textbook) in that dusty old classroom with the mundane voice of Professor Binns lulling them into a quiet, irresistible afternoon nap.
Today, the sun filters through the yellowed glass windows, and the fourth years daydream about romance.
Ginny, sitting next to a window, rests her head in her cheek, her eyes scanning the room as her fiery hair cascades down her shoulders and over the desk. They eventually come to rest on a certain blonde, who’s dreaming the class away as well.
Luna, sitting near the front of the room, is twiddling a strand of her hair while watching the Wrackspurts and wondering about the meaning of life in general. Some wonder why she was in Ravenclaw in the first place, but she was still smart in her own way. She could probably take the O.W.L. for this class right now and still get a decent score, even though she has never once listened to him in her past four years of education.
However, she does know Ginny is staring at her. She always does in this class.
Luna doesn’t really know why though. She thinks that it must be the Dabberblimps.
On the other side of the classroom, there is a blond Slytherin, who is smirking to himself in a way that either makes him extremely creepy or extremely narcissistic as he stares at the redhead on the far side of the classroom.
Ginny Weasley. She’s a Pureblood on the wrong side, and oh, how much he’d love it if she fell head over heels for him.
But, you know, it’s just the teenage hormones. It’s not like Draco actually cares about her or something. She’s just another girl to sleep with, and playing a bit hard to get can be fun.
Behind him is a girl in the same House, with hair as black as Ginny’s is red, sitting in the same fashion as the redhead and staring at the back of Draco’s head.
Draco Malfoy is a fabulous man, in Astoria’s young mind. He’s handsome and hot and oh-so-pretty, and his hair...well, there was nothing wrong with a man that appreciated hair gel.
Her fantasies of him begin to sky-rocket from a simple date to a night of passion and she feels herself blushing as she stares at his shoulder blades.
Meanwhile, Pansy Parkinson, like the devilish girl she is, has her eyes alternating between the other two Slytherins.
She wouldn’t mind having either of them.
Unbeknownst to Pansy, Neville is staring at her, twiddling his clammy fingers and wondering why he had fallen for such a nasty girl, who definitely hated him and everything about him.
Well, her personality was definitely lacking, but Neville couldn’t say that he didn’t appreciate the view. And, well, Neville was pretty sure he had a flower fetish.
Luna’s eyes glanced towards Neville accidentally. She shakes herself and thinks that the Dabberblimps are finally coming after her, and prays for forgiveness.
Cho and Marietta are secretly holding hands under the table in the opposite corner, laughing at their romanticized class under their breaths. They think they’re tricking everyone, but they all know that they have a thing for each other.
Luna is staring into space (Marietta always thought she was barmy); Ginny is gazing at her wistfully; Draco is staring at her like a lovesick puppy; Astoria is burning a hole into the back of his head; Pansy is relaxing in the back of the room, imagining Draco and Astoria and her all together in one steamy moment; Neville is staring at her like she’s an Amazon goddess; Luna’s rubbing her eyes like they’re infected; and Marietta and Cho are playing footsie in the corner.
All in one History of Magic class. (How romantic.)
“What’s so amazing in this class that no one ever pays attention to me?” Professor Binns thinks to himself as he rambles on about something or the other.
His old and wary eyes catch on to the map of stares and romantic fantasies being thrown around the room, and he smiles to himself.
Ah, young love.
Points Earned: 61!