Springfic: "Where My Thought's Escaping (2/2)" for kereia

[springmod]

Title: Where My Thought's Escaping (2/2)
Author: Snorkackcatcher
Recipient: kereia
Character(s): Cho Chang, her family, Michael Corner, Marietta Edgecombe, Su Li, assorted OCs and canon cameos
Rating: PG-13
Word-count: 19,750 words approx
Warnings (highlight to view): Character deaths (mostly canon)
Summary: Cho had enjoyed her visits to Guangzhou. She wasn't at all sure she wanted to live there. But when her parents moved their family away because of the war, she found herself trying to build a new life in China -- and struggling to reconcile it with her unfinished business in Britain.
Author's Notes: Su Li is a Ravenclaw on the list of 40 students in Harry's year in JKR's notebook (seen in the documentary Harry Potter and Me), although she never appeared in the books. She may in fact have been the prototype for Cho herself, but here I've followed fandom tradition by taking the notebook literally. The mention of Cho's Scottish accent here is a nod to Katie Leung, of course, though there's nothing in the books to say she doesn't have one. One line is taken directly from DH, others refer to it from Cho's POV. The title is from Simon & Garfunkel's Homeward Bound. It was chosen post-completion when I decided my working title didn't cut it, but when I actually checked the lyrics they did seem to fit the general mood!
Beta: Thanks to kennahijja for regular betaing, plus shiiki and dolorous_ett for invaluable Sinopicking assistance. But anything problematic is my responsibility, not theirs. Many thanks to the mods for letting me overrun the deadline with this fic, and I should apologise for the length - perhaps one of those occasions where I ‘lack the time to make it shorter’!

Part 1

Where My Thought's Escaping

适应acclimatisation

The series of Portkeys on the return journey were as disorientating as ever, but this time Cho felt a lot happier to arrive in China. She wasn't convinced that she had in fact actually resolved anything, but it felt as if she had, and that was a lot more than she'd dared hope for. It seemed to show; her mother looked pleased when she met her at the arrival station.

"Hi, Mum!"

"Welcome back, darling. Did it help?"

"Yes. Yes, I think it did."

"Good." Much to Cho's surprise, she left it at that, for which Cho was glad. She didn't really think it would be helpful to go into details.

Her father had finally bought a flying carpet in her absence, so the journey home was sedate but comfortable, and Cho stayed quiet on the way. Maybe she'd just needed to visit Britain again to get it out of her system? It had been at once familiar and unfamiliar, a rather jarring dual sensation of feeling simultaneously at home yet somehow like a tourist. While she was there she'd put it down to the changes wrought by the new Ministry, which seemed to have induced a general wariness that hung in the atmosphere like the smog over Beijing. It wasn't until she arrived back in Guangzhou that she realised that there was more to it than that. Actually, she'd simply grown acclimatised to being surrounded by people who looked like her.

"Are you all right, darling?"

"What? Oh, yes -- yes, Mum, I'm fine."

Cho didn't say anything to her parents, but it was yet another unsettling revelation. Other than her family, and a few friends of her parents, she'd met very few wizards or witches of Chinese extraction before moving here. She'd always looked Chinese, but felt Scottish. Muggles occasionally stared at her oddly, but magical people never really seemed to care what other people looked like -- just so long as they too were magical. Although now she thought about it, other Ravenclaws had always seemed to assume she'd be friends with Su Li -- annoyingly so, since Su was a year younger than Cho, and frankly had been the kind of cliché bookworm that gave her house a reputation for dullness. Granger had been bad enough, but whatever her faults she at least had a bit of spark ...

"I'll take my stuff back up to my room and unpack."

"All right, kitten. Don't take all day, we'd like to see you at dinner."

Cho gritted her teeth at the kitten and waved her wand at the trunk, muttering "Yí xíng huàn yǐng!" under her breath in an aggrieved tone of voice. She paused for a fraction of a second halfway up the stairs when it dawned on her that she'd used the Chinese incantation for the movement spell without thinking. Out of pure curiosity she set it down and tried "Locomotor trunk!" instead. The spell with Latin incantation really did seem more sluggish; the trunk didn't move immediately, and it was harder to control.

Over the course of the day Cho found herself wondering if Su Li's family had done the same as hers. She wasn't sure how to find out, though; as far as she could remember, they had originally come from a completely different part of China, and if they'd left Britain would presumably have gone back there. She regretted not having paid more attention to her now; maybe she could even have brought her into the DA. After all, she'd been in the same year as Michael -- and Harry -- so she must have known most of the members.

By the time she'd slipped back into her job routine she realised that Guangzhou was actually beginning to feel like home. Maybe the week she'd spent back in Britain had helped her find ... closure, the annoying term half her so-called friends had tried to drum into her when she was mourning Cedric. It was a process she knew rather more about than they did, and also much more than she wanted to.

相遇encounter

Cho had grown used to the irregular but reasonably frequent arrival of a rather tired owl pigeon from the witch in Hong Kong, bringing with it the latest copy of The Quibbler. She'd hoped to pick up the latest edition early while in London, but hadn't been able to find one. That was disappointing, but presumably even Lovegood would want to take a break over Christmas and the New Year while his daughter was at home. There was nothing waiting for her when she got back, either; Ming vigorously denied nicking it, but she had a sneaking suspicion that he would have grabbed it if he could. Oh well, let him; if he wanted to know, it couldn't hurt.

She was distracted for a while by Chun's return from the Xinbian Academy for the holidays, telling excited tales of what it was like to learn magic to anyone who would sit and listen to her gush about her school (which she naturally regarded as far superior to Hogwarts, the Imperial Academy, or indeed any of the thirty or so other schools of magic in China). Cho was happy to spend a lot of time with her sister; the differences were fascinating. Transfiguration was regarded as an advanced study, best left until the students had mastered basic Charms work, but it was traditional to begin Divination early -- although with emphasis on written forms that sounded much more like Arithmancy. There was of course no subject of Ancient Runes, but there was instruction in the art of magical calligraphy for the enchanted parchments often used in Chinese magic, and there were no separate Defence classes. Her parents nodded when they heard; this was apparently a topic of optional (although encouraged) special study when the student was older and more experienced. They seemed to approve of this arrangement, as if early study and involvement with the DA had left their elder daughter with an over-optimistic view of the dangers of duelling. And Chun's Potions teacher was something of a tyrant, hated and feared by most of the students. So some things stayed the same.

However, when her sister was preparing to return to school after seeing in the Year of the Tiger, and Cho had time to think about other things, she began to get concerned that no new copies of The Quibbler had arrived. Was something wrong? Had her payment run out, or had the woman in the shop just run out of stock?

So on her next day off Cho Apparated to Hong Kong again to investigate. As she entered the shop she was surprised to hear the name Quibbler mentioned in a young woman's voice. This customer spoke in careful Mandarin, but the owner replied cheerfully in English, "Oh yes, you are Li Su? I'm sorry, child, but there are none this month. None last month, either. My supplier thinks there is a problem." She caught sight of Cho. "Have you come to ask about your English magazine too?"

Cho nodded. "A problem?" She glanced at the other customer and did an astonished double-take as the face and name registered.

"It says ... dangerous things, I hear." The shopkeeper's face grew sadder. "Brave, brave, but ... this is not the first time such a thing happens."

"No. Thank you." Cho turned away, bitterly disappointed, and as they stepped outside into the morning daylight, she saw that she'd been right. "Li Su -- er, Su Li?"

The other girl looked equally astonished, gawping at her. She was dressed in what looked like school robes, very similar to those her sister wore, although bearing a crest with the characters for Imperial Academy. "Cho Chang ...?" She said something in Mandarin that Cho thought meant "what are you doing here?".

Without thinking, Cho replied, not in English, but in Cantonese. "I live here now." They talked over each other in mutual confusion for a moment or two, and then caught themselves as they realised what they were doing. The younger girl gave a rueful, albeit nervous, grin, and Cho couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry! Habit, I suppose."

Su Li smiled tentatively. "I remember you from Hogwarts!"

"Your family moved too, then?"

"Yes."

Su looked as if she didn't quite know what to say, and acting on pure whim Cho asked her to come for lunch, insisting when she demurred. Over pork and noodles Cho began to draw her out -- it was hard work, but she finally got her talking. Apparently their parents knew each other slightly and had discussed what they might do in the event of the war taking a turn for the worse, which was news to Cho.

"So really it's our fault that you got dragged all the way out here for your last year?"

"I didn't mind," said Su, blushing slightly. "I'm not like you, Cho. I wouldn't know how to fight like you did."

"I didn't actually fight," said Cho, feeling rather guilty. "My friends did."

"But you joined that Dumbledore's Army thing, didn't you? It was very brave of you."

"Oh. Thank you." Now Cho didn't quite know what to say; she hadn't felt that flattered for quite a while.

Su seemed to brace herself. "Did you want to stay then?" she asked tentatively.

"I suppose I ... I don't know, really." Cho shrugged. It still wasn't a question she felt comfortable answering. "I'd probably have stayed, yes. But I couldn't when my parents wanted to come here. It wouldn't have been right."

"Oh I know. A lot of people who had the chance to go did. Mum's best friend, she's married to a Canadian, they left when Rufus Scrimgeour was replaced. Obviously he'd never have resigned voluntarily, he wasn't the type, so anyone could see something bad had happened." Su evidently followed politics much more closely than Cho had. "That boy in the year below me with the French name, I heard his parents left Britain too?" Cho nodded in confirmation; Marietta had mentioned that in passing. "And there were the people with Muggle parents, of course -- Justin Finch-Fletchley wrote to me from Malta, he said his father has a business there so he insisted his family get out. I used to like him, he was nice."

Cho gaped as Su blushed again, this time furiously; it had taken a long time to get her to lighten up, but now she had she was coming out with all sorts of things Cho had no idea about. She hadn't known Su even knew Justin, let alone had what seemed to be quite a crush on him. It seemed only fair to add a little news of her own. "Terry Boot stayed, though. His grandmother's Dutch, he told me once. They used to spend holidays in Amsterdam."

"He was in that thing with you too, wasn't he?" At Cho's nod, she added, "He must have had better luck than you did."

That depended on what was lucky, really. "Padma's still there, too. And her sister. Michael -- er, Corner, that is -- told me."

Su's eyes widened. "Didn't their parents take them away as soon as they heard of ... you know, the murder?"

"Yeah. Changed their minds and decided to stick it out, obviously ..." Cho broke off when she realised what she was saying; that was another uncomfortable topic. Of course, the Patils' parents had been born in Britain, unlike her own. "It's been really nice seeing you here, Su," she said on impulse.

Su looked quite pleased by the compliment. "You too. It's good to see someone from home."

"Yeah ..."

"I ... I'd like to go back some day, if it settles down. I mean, this is quite fun, but Britain is home, isn't it?"

Cho's chest tightened and she cursed under her breath; she'd thought she was getting out of the habit of thinking of Britain as home, but all it took was one chance meeting and she was away again ... "I suppose so," she said, in as level a voice as she could manage.

"Do ... do you think Harry Potter will win?" Su seemed afraid to ask. "You knew him better than ... I mean ... you know ..." She broke up, blushing again.

"Because I was his girlfriend -- sort of?" Cho gave her a wry look. "I don't think I ever really knew him that well. But -- I think Harry can do it if anyone can. Don't give up hope just yet, Su."

制度system

Hope appeared to be a precious commodity in magical Britain, one in steadily dwindling supply, and however much Cho would have liked to help it was not something Yang Honghua's business had available for export. Michael's letters from Hogwarts were even more ambiguous, though also much more personal; Cho tried to give him some hope and comfort in the letters she wrote back, but it was difficult to know what to say. Offering comfort didn't seem to be her strong point -- she hadn't been able to help Harry either, no more than he'd been able to comfort her.

But when Marietta's next letter arrived, there was yet another unexpected development. It seemed that she and Michael had worked out some kind of system between them. Snape had not yet banned Hogsmeade visits (perhaps the greasy creep also felt like having a day off from seeing people who loathed him, not that it wasn't entirely deserved), and Marietta had met up with Michael in the village, received the latest news from the school unfiltered, and passed it on to Cho in her letter. From this she learnt the explanation for the missing Quibbler; Loon ... Luna Lovegood had not come back after the holidays, and her father had been sent to Azkaban. Cho felt sick when she thought of the implications.

The next letter from Marietta brought news that Potterwatch had stepped into the breach as a source of hope, keeping people up to date with news from the resistance. It was pretty much an open secret among the older students that Lee Jordan was behind it. Michael thought he'd recognised Professor Lupin's voice too, and their aliases seemed to support the conclusion. But the main news from the programme actually seemed rather disquieting; Harry had disappeared from sight as completely as if he had performed a Vanishing Spell on himself. Everyone hoped he was doing something important, but since no-one had a clue where he was it was hard to tell.

In the privacy of her own room Cho made a few attempts to tune in, before realising that the attempt was futile and giving up. Not only did she have no idea when the programme was on or how to access it, she doubted that even the most powerful magical broadcasting charms would reach Guangzhou from Britain.

Cho tried to put it aside and concentrate on her job, but often caught herself thinking about when the next letter would arrive, and especially about what it might say. She tried to console herself with the thought that things couldn't get much worse, but it didn't help much -- it was obvious that they could. It wasn't at all easy to see how to stop the rot. One passage in particular from History of the Defenders War sprung to mind, though; the Defenders of the Wand had made an early surprise attack on the Ministry in Beijing -- and easily beaten the small force of Lawwizards left to defend the Ministry while their colleagues were hunting the Defenders. As the author recounted in some wonder, a takeover had been prevented by a spontaneous last-ditch stand by 'ordinary wizards and witches who had happened to be there at the time' on business. It had turned out in retrospect to have been one of the key actions of the war.

Perhaps You-Know-Who and his gang would overreach too soon and come a cropper, then? It was the best hope she had.

闲谈gossip

Cho seldom looked at her DA coin any more, although she never quite got out of the habit of carrying it around. On a dull day at work in mid-March, she was idly playing with it at her desk when it suddenly burned. Hu Jiao chuckled as Cho gave a yelp and dropped it.

Blushing, she picked it up from the floor, read the message, did a double-take, and then let out a whoop of joy. The marks translated to the simple note: "I'm safe, Luna." No details of course -- there wasn't enough room -- but wherever she'd been, she seemed to be out of harm's way for the moment. Perhaps with her father in jail and unable to publish they'd let her go?

"What is that thing, Chang Cho?" She jumped at the question; her co-worker was trying to look as if she was merely casually interested in the answer rather than consumed with curiosity, but she was doing a very poor job of it.

"It's a --" Explaining the coin was more difficult than she'd anticipated, especially as she'd never tried before. "It, um, sends messages. I used to be in a -- a sort of secret club at school. We all had a coin, and the leader changed the marks round the edge to tell us when the meetings were."

"I see." She didn't sound sure of that. "How did that work?"

"Well, it's got a --" Cho flailed for a moment as she realised she didn't know what the equivalent of 'Protean Charm' was "-- a spell on it that makes changes to one coin show on all the others, so when Harry changed his coin --"

"Harry?" squeaked Hu Jiao, and Cho bit her lip. "Harry Potter?" Cho nodded and cursed silently. "You mean you were in a secret club with the most famous British wizard there is and you never told me?"

"Well, it was ... secret," said Cho, knowing it sounded lame. Was there anywhere Harry wasn't some sort of rock star? Jiao hadn't sounded this excited since the announcement that China's foremost wizarding poet was booked to do a reading at the Guangzhou Meeting Hall.

"Did he just send you a message?"

"No, he doesn't do it any more. It's Lu -- er, some other people who were in it started it again because of the -- the situation."

"The situation?"

"You know. There's a war going on there?"

Jiao's mouth was an O. "Did your -- club win a battle or something? Is that why you yelled?"

"No ..." Cho hesitated for a moment, and then suddenly, all the things she'd seen and heard, all the things she'd never talked about at home, began to spill out of her -- the Death Eater takeover, the DA, Luna and her father, Michael and Marietta, the steady drip, drip, drip of bad news from the country of her birth, to which the message from Luna was a welcome contrast. The only thing she kept back was the information that she'd once gone out with Harry Potter. She didn't feel she could cope with Hu Jiao asking her what it was like to kiss him.

Her colleague was very quiet for a minute or two after Cho finally ran down. "I didn't realise it was that bad," she said eventually.

"Neither did I," admitted Cho. Well, she'd known it was bad, but until she put it all together like that it hadn't sunk in quite how bad it was, nor how rapidly things had gone downhill.

"It's eating you up, isn't it?"

"What?"

"Not being able to do anything about it."

"No!"

"No?"

"Oh, all right, then, yes! Yes, I suppose it is."

There was no opportunity to discuss the matter further, as Yang Honghua chose that moment to walk in with a new customer for Cho to discuss orders with; she did however notice that this time, Hu Jiao refrained from pointing out to them that Cho had actually spoken to Harry Potter.

祸disaster

After the rare piece of good news from Britain that made Cho's heart leap, what followed made it sink again. The first intimation of trouble was a fearful letter from Marietta, telling her that the entire Weasley family (except for the pompous one who'd been Head Boy in their fourth year) had suddenly disappeared overnight. It was a massive subject for gossip in the Ministry, although no-one seemed to know where they were. Michael confirmed this by writing to say that Ginny Weasley had not returned to school -- that at least he could frame as romantic gossip ("Ginny's not bothered to come back -- nothing to do with me! I know you didn't like her much, but I'm over her now, honest").

The really shattering news came in Marietta's next letter, a semi-hysterical message sent a few days after one of the Hogwarts Hogsmeade weekends. It was hard to be sure exactly what had happened from her panic-stricken scrawl, but what she could read and understand made Cho's blood run cold, Michael had not turned up, but Padma and her sister had sought Marietta out and told her baldly that he'd been severely tortured for trying to help a younger kid; he couldn't have left his bed even if he'd been allowed to come. They avoided going into specifics, which only made things worse, as it set Cho's imagination working in gruesome detail. Presumably Crucio had been used on him, but the Patils had hinted that physical cruelty had been involved this time as well.

At Hogwarts.

At a school.

"What are they doing?"

"Huh?" Her little brother looked up from ... oh, whatever annoying game it was that he was playing.

"None of your business, Ming," she said, scowling at him. She hadn't realised that she'd cried it aloud, and was profoundly glad that her parents weren't there.

"You've got another of those letters, haven't you?"

"What letters?" she replied with unease. He couldn't read her letters, of course -- they were all enchanted to be readable only by her -- but he wasn't even supposed to have noticed them. She quickly snatched the latest one from the table, together with the Communications from Foreign Parts section of the Guangzhou Messenger, which had some kind of report from Europe that she wanted to read, but didn't want Ming asking questions about.

"The ones your friends send. The ones where they tell you war stuff. Kitty." He grinned at Cho's discomfiture. "I know about the war, right? Dad and Mum talk about it sometimes when you're not there and they think I can't hear. Are your friends winning then?" He sounded genuinely curious.

"What? No." There didn't seem much point in pretending she didn't know what he meant.

"Oh." His face fell. "That's rubbish."

Cho stood up; she suddenly felt so angry she didn't trust herself to continue the conversation. "Yes, it is, you horrible little creature!" she spat at him as she dashed upstairs to her room and slammed the door.

Oh Michael.

Tortured.

Put under Cruciatus, burned, beaten to a bloody pulp ... she didn't even know what they'd done to him.

He was only a half-blood. His Blood Status (how she loathed that term!) wouldn't protect him from the worst of it.

When they'd met in Bloomsbury, he'd said they tried not to leave marks. If they'd stopped caring whether they did or not, that was ominous. The Death Eaters must think they had things well under control and could do what they liked now -- create an atmosphere of terror, suppress opposition before it started, impress upon people that there was a new order in wizarding Britain and it was prepared to be brutal if it didn't get what it wanted. She recognised the approach all too well from her History of Magic lessons (at least, those she'd managed to stay awake for). And for that matter, she'd seen it in History of the Defenders War -- groups of Defenders who seized control of provincial wizarding areas had often behaved the same way. It seemed to be a standard tactic.

She realised she was lying on something, pulled it out to see what it was, and found the copy of the Messenger she'd brought upstairs and temporarily forgotten about. One of their foreign correspondents had written a long, pessimistic report on the situation in Europe. Cho skimmed through it and found it contained many details that Michael and Marietta hadn't known. Other Continental countries had at first been accepting of those who fled from Britain, but were now becoming wary and starting to make difficulties for them, as quite a number of Death Eaters and their sympathisers had moved overseas too in order to make contacts among like-minded pure-bloods. Even worse, it seemed to be working. Just as they had in the first war, bigots everywhere saw in the reborn and ascendant Voldemort the powerful wizard who could lead them to restored supremacy, and Ministries all over Europe were facing unrest.

The reporter explained that it was an open secret in Europe that the British Ministry had been taken over by the Death Eaters, even if Thicknesse had yet to officially acknowledge that the regime had changed (opinions varied as to whether he had been a Voldemort supporter all along, or had merely been placed under the Imperius Curse). He presented evidence that one or two smaller European Ministries might already have fallen too, and raised the gloomy possibility of a new and worse version of the wars of seventy years before. Once Voldemort had dealt with the main remaining local difficulty of the Boy Who Lived, and was able to turn his attention to wider goals, his path seemed clear. His supporters had already laid the groundwork ...

It was exactly what she'd predicted at the Beijing Ministry -- without the help of magical parchments.

Cho almost cried.

But she couldn't do it. She wanted to cry, wanted to let all her frustrations out, but she couldn't. Somewhere along the line, the disgust and discomfort everyone had showed around her when she cried for Cedric seemed to have burned the ability to do so out of her.

Cho crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it across the room instead. She needed to do something, to strike back at them. But there wasn't anything she could do.

Well, there was one thing she could do. Cho found quill and paper, sat down, and began to write to Michael to give him what little consolation he could get from her sympathy and encouragement. She didn't dare say too clearly that she knew what had happened, but what she could say was to be strong. and that she really wished she could be there with him. And she discovered as she wrote that she really didn't care which way he took that statement; it would be right either way.

密信message

Cho waited in apprehension for the next letter to arrive, but none did during the next fortnight. Even her job wasn't much fun any more -- or perhaps it was just that however much she threw herself into it, she was distracted by the thought that everything she'd known as she grew up was being steadily stripped away.

She woke with a start one morning and looked at the clock with bleary eyes. Ten past six. Way too early. And why did she feel hot ...

Cho sat bolt upright. The fake Galleon was lying on the small table by her bed, and when she touched it, it was still warm -- somebody in the DA had just sent a message, even though it must be late at night in Britain. She almost didn't want to read it and hear irrelevant or depressing news. But there was no point in putting it off until later, so she picked it up and mentally deciphered the markings. For a minute, she couldn't take in the result.

H back Help needed fight App Hogs Head Nev

It was a struggle not to laugh hysterically and wake the rest of the household. Harry back? At Hogwarts? A fight? So most of the people she knew back in Britain, most of the friends she had from her old life, were about to get themselves killed in some useless fight?

It's not useless! Somebody's got to do it! It still sounded like bravado, even to her own ears.

She glanced at the clock again. Six-fifteen. Why on earth was Harry there?

Ordinary wizards and witches who had happened to be there at the time. A last-ditch stand that had worked, against all expectations.

I thought you were supposed to be the intelligent one? I thought you had more sense than that!

Six-seventeen. Why wasn't he there in secret? Was this what he'd been planning all this time? A last stand? Why at Hogwarts?

Harry can do it if anyone can. Don't give up hope just yet.

Maybe Harry really could do what everyone, including Cho, said he could. Or rather, hoped he could.

I'd still be willing to stand with him.

Six-twenty. Ten minutes since Neville had sent the message. People would already be on their way to join him. In another hour they'd probably be fighting.

In another hour and a half, she'd be on her way to work. Not that it was likely she'd be able to concentrate, under the circumstances. What on earth would she tell Yang Honghua?

Cho smiled. Let him think she'd gone mad. It would probably be the truth.

She jumped to her feet, tossed aside the work robes neatly folded across her chair, threw on jeans and a T-shirt, and grabbed her wand and bag from the desk. The house was still quiet, her parents safely asleep. She picked up a quill and scribbled a note:
Dad, Mum --They're fighting at Hogwarts, all my friends are there, they need me, I can't not go. I love you. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I didn't mean to leave like this, but there's no time. I love you. Yours always Cho

She tiptoed downstairs, wincing at the creak of the top step, slipped into her father's study and left the note on his desk.

"What are you doing?"

Cho jumped in alarm and turned round. Ming was standing there in his pyjamas, staring at her with his usual maddening curiosity.

"What?"

"Why were you sneaking downstairs? I heard you."

"I got called in to work early," she lied. "I didn't want to wake them so I thought I'd better leave a note. See you later, Ming." To his surprise and disgust she scooped him up, kissed his forehead and hugged him, trying not to let herself wonder if she'd ever see him again. Finally she put him down, grinned as he wiped his head with a revolted look, then turned on the spot and Disapparated.

She landed neatly in the small crowded Portkey station, and rushed up to the witch at the travel desk at the far end. "Excuse me, when is the next route to Britain? Will it be soon?"

The witch shook her head regretfully. "I'm very sorry, but there are only two per day now -- morning and evening, nine and twenty-one hundred hours. Few people care to travel there at the moment." Cho's face fell, and the witch pointed to a mixed group of Chinese and European wizards and witches with looks of trepidation on their faces, who were clustered around an old tattered fan lying on a table. "Would it help to take a Portkey to Brindisi and travel on from there? It would be a rush, departure is in two minutes ..."

"That's fine." Cho rummaged in her purse and dropped some gold on the table. "Please, never mind the change. Call it -- a donation to charity!"

She rushed over and touched a finger to the fan just as it started to glow blue, and felt the familiar jerk behind her navel. The next few minutes were spent in great discomfort as they revolved across continents, heads reeling, with everyone hoping that the wizard whose face had turned green would make it all the way to the heel of Italy without spraying vomit over them all. Luckily, he just managed to last until they landed with a bump, and Cho reeled away, fighting to bring her own dizziness and nausea under control. She'd require all her concentration to complete her journey.

She'd covered thousands of miles with multiple Apparitions before, between Guangzhou and Jinan. But then, she'd been able to plan her route well in advance. This time, it was Apparate and hope.

Cho Disillusioned herself, took a very deep breath, then launched herself across Europe. She travelled as far as she dared at each stage, picking as destinations places she knew or had simply heard of, and hoping against hope that if she landed on top of anyone, the falling darkness would cover any weakness in her invisibility charm. From Brindisi it was Rome, by the Trevi fountain -- then Florence, a hidden wizarding shop overlooking the Ponte Vecchio -- Milan, near La Scala -- Besançon, at the gates of Beauxbatons -- Paris, the Champs-Élysées, where she nearly did knock someone over -- London, a hasty escape to the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron -- and finally, because her head had now stopped spinning and she couldn't bear to wait any longer, all the way to Hogsmeade and the Hog's Head bar in one final wrenching jump. She'd gone halfway across the world in about half an hour.

"Cho!"

The roar of delight took her by surprise, and she looked round to see the Weasley twins and their friend, who all immediately hugged her. "We thought you'd left us for good!" cried Lee Jordan.

"Can't keep away from the action, eh?"

"Playing it by ear, like me!"

Cho gaped. "Your ..."

"Yeah, well, never mind that. Better get going; we don't want to keep those poor people waiting in suspense, now do we?"

None of the three boys had ever been particular friends of hers, but meeting them again still felt like coming home. The landlord had evidently been expecting visitors, and with a grumpy look pointed them towards a passage over the mantelpiece. She held back for a moment or two as they stepped into what they assured her was the Room of Requirement, not quite knowing whether she wanted to slip in unnoticed or make a grand entrance. It ended up being somewhere in between: Michael's face lit up when he saw her, and Harry's jaw dropped. Cho smiled at him; she felt triumphant.

"I got the message," she said, holding up her Galleon, and went over to sit with Michael.

战battle

It felt strange to be back at Hogwarts again, but the next hour was exhilarating, almost like old times. She even felt amused by Ginny Weasley's obvious jealousy of her, once the first disappointment of not getting the chance to go back to her old haunts in the Ravenclaw common room had passed. In fact it wasn't until a group of them were moving as fast as possible down into the grounds, led by their old Defence professor, that it began to sink in just how dangerous things were about to get.

Why on earth had she done it? She'd never even been in a proper duel before, let alone a battle!

Michael pulled her aside for a moment as they settled into position. "Thanks for coming," he said, and he sounded so grateful it gave her heart. "You were so brave."

"Wish I was. I'm shaking like a leaf," she told him. Her pulse was racing now as it approached midnight. Breathing was getting harder.

"So am I." Their eyes met for moment and then they seized each other, sharing a long lingering kiss; urgent, fervent, almost desperate, both of them trying to give the other comfort and take some for themselves. They pulled apart after a minute or so and Michael rested his head on hers. "I wanted to ... just in case ..."

"I know." They remained like that for a moment, then looked up, aghast, as a series of bangs shook the whole grounds.

"What's happening?" yelled Michael.

"I don't know!" Cho could barely hear herself above the din. She watched in fascinated horror as the sky lit up. The barred gates of Hogwarts were being bombarded with spells, hitting them in relays. Cho flinched; it looked as if the curses would pass straight through the gaps, but Professor Flitwick's defensive spells repelled them. The outer walls were trembling, as if struck by some huge, powerful force that needed no magic, and when she tried to see past the dazzling lights to what lay beyond, she could see huge dark shapes towering over the walls. "Giants," she said dully, but only she could hear.

The wait for battle to actively commence seemed worse than actual fighting. As minutes ticked by, both walls and gates seem to be holding for the moment, but Cho could tell that they wouldn't last for very much longer against the assaults being hurled at them, whatever Flitwick had come up with. Even as she thought that there was a huge explosion, so loud it made her scream with pain; the flash of light was so bright it burned her eyes. When she looked up the gates were still there, but they were buckling; one more hammer blow would surely blast through the defences ...

"We ... we'd better get in position," said Michael in her ear. He sounded as terrified as she was.

She nodded. "Hit them as soon as they come in!" That was definitely bravado. Did Stunning Spells even work on giants?

Her hand was shaking as she moved as close as she dared and aimed her wand to hex anything that came through. She could see dark-robed shapes massing outside; they paused for a minute or so before launching their final assault on the gates. It was almost quiet, eerily so; she could hear sounds of battle elsewhere, but they were no more than noises off. As the seconds ticked away, the tension became choking.

Then there was a loud cry from all the Death Eaters at once, and another massive explosion as at least a dozen spells hit the gates. They came apart with a final tortured scream, and the breaking of the enchantments protecting them unleashed a last defence, a wave of raw magical power that seemed to blast outward in all directions, scattering attackers and defenders alike.

When Cho regained her senses and scrambled to her feet she wasn't sure where she was or which direction she was facing. For one moment she wondered why she'd forgotten where the Portkey had come from, then everything flooded back, and she looked around wildly. She couldn't tell if she'd actually been knocked out or just temporarily disoriented. Small battles seemed to be taking place all around her, but a hundred yards away was where the lights seemed most dense, so she clutched her wand tightly and staggered in that direction.

A masked figure dashed past before she even realised it was there, and acting on pure instinct she whipped round and aimed a Stunning Spell at its back. It hit, and the Death Eater faltered, stumbled, and then crumpled to the ground.

Yes! She'd never Stunned anyone for real before! A sudden flood of elation helped keep a lid on her fears. She stepped forward and fired off another couple of curses in the direction of dark shapes that looked too big to be human, then yelped and ducked hastily as a spell flew past her ear. Like a Bludger, only a Bludger she told herself manically; she spun round and got another shock.

The man she thought she'd Stunned was already getting up.

What? ... why? ...

He fired a jinx at her which she blocked with a Shield Charm, but it wasn't strong enough; the spell hit with enough force to send her flying backwards. Cho landed with a painful jolt on the hard ground. She struggled to get up, but her legs felt numb; whether from the landing or the spell she couldn't tell. She fought down a rising sense of panic. Why weren't her spells working properly?

The Death Eater's mask was askew and he ripped it away in a show of impatience. He was fairly young and his face seemed oddly familiar -- and then, in a moment of sudden surreal recognition that left her nauseated, she realised why; he was one of the Tornados reserve Beaters. His picture had once grinned and winked at her from her bedroom wall. "Didn't see you there, you little slag! Funny spells you've got." There was no smile on his face now, his voice was angry, with a strong undercurrent of malice. "Think we should mark that pretty face of yours ..."

As he swung his wand in what looked for all the world like a Backbeat, Cho finally understood the problem. "Protego!" she screamed, and this time the curse bounced harmlessly off and back at him. He hadn't expected that, and had to duck; Cho took advantage of him being off-balance by following up with a rapid "Stupefy!". This time it blasted him backwards when it hit, throwing him even further than his curse had thrown her, out cold.

'Funny spells'? Don't use Chinese here, you fool! she told herself as she grabbed his wand and raced towards the rest of the battle.

One of McGonagall's animated statues, a pompous-looking wizard, was hurling rocks at any Death Eaters who came near his vantage point on top of a large square plinth. He muttered "Oh that's right, make me even more of a target, why don't you?" as she crouched down behind it and peeped over the top, trying to make sense of what was going on. Now that she was able to pay attention to more than her immediate surroundings, the noise was overwhelming; bangs, yells, and occasionally stomach-churning screams that sounded like someone under ... that probably were someone under Crucio.

She couldn't see Michael, Professor Lupin, or indeed anyone else she knew, but there were a few dark shapes lying unmoving on the ground that made her stomach lurch. She didn't dare let herself think who they might be, or whether they were merely Stunned or worse. Once she got her bearings it became obvious that the defenders were being steadily pushed back towards the castle, and after a moment or two to gather some self-control, she slipped out from behind the grumpy statue ("well thank you for nothing") and ran to join them.

She found herself side-by-side with a boy and girl she didn't even recognise -- Hufflepuffs to judge by their badges -- all of them hiding behind a low balustrade that marked off a terrace and trying to pick off any Death Eaters who came near. Unfortunately, the ground had been so badly churned up by misdirected curses that the attackers had plenty of cover to work with, and despite the defenders' best efforts they made steady progress towards the castle.

There was a green flash from the grounds, far too close now. Cho threw herself flat on the terrace to get out of its way, winced at the bruises that would be sure to appear soon, picked herself up and sent a Stunner back in the general direction it had come from, through the gaps between the pillars.

"Noooo!"

Cho turned to look, distracted¸ at the agonised cry from behind her, and for a moment she froze in dread. The girl who'd been fighting next to her lay slumped on the ground, unmoving, her eyes blank. The boy had turned completely white as he dropped on his knees next to her. Cho couldn't take it in for a moment.

She hadn't spoken to her when she arrived to help out -- she'd just nodded briefly to let them know help had arrived and then started casting curses. She didn't even know the girl's name.

Movement caught her eye. "Look out!" she cried as two Death Eaters raced across the ground towards them, wands extended; they were firing spells at random and knocking chunks out of the walls. The boy still seemed unable to move, overwhelmed by his friend's death, and in panic Cho -- not wishing to expose herself to any curses -- just pointed her wand over the top of the parapet and screamed "Confringo!" The ground erupted in front of her and the Death Eaters were thrown back; but they were still far too close, and soon picked themselves up and moved forward again with greater caution but an air of grim determination ...

The boy she'd been fighting with looked up at her, his expression utterly lost, his eyes beginning to fill with tears. Cho understood that feeling only too well.

"Come on!" she cried, pulling at his arm.

It took a moment or two for this action to register, and another several seconds of frantic tugging before she could get him to move, but then a curse zipped past just above their heads, and after another agonised moment he joined her in racing for the cover of the school. They'd lost their pursuers in the cover of darkness when Cho tripped over something lying on the ground, looked down and almost collapsed right there and then with anguish.

"Pro -- Professor Lupin?" she said stupidly. The second shock so soon after the first was paralysing.

"Come on!" This time, her Hufflepuff comrade-in-arms pulled her back to her senses as spells flew out of the night towards them, and they started running again.

She had talked to Lupin, just -- minutes, or was it hours? -- before, as they went down the stairs. He'd been encouraging, the same way he'd always been. And now he was gone too.

决斗ultimatum

Cho had completely lost track of where she was, but when they got closer to the castle it became apparent that they were on the north side, within sight of one of the entrances. Hogwarts was looking the worse for wear now, with several lower battlements already beginning to crumble. As she surveyed the position it dawned on her in dismay that there were several Death Eaters between her and the main doors. They seemed to be regrouping, waiting for reinforcements to arrive, which suggested that it would be a very bad move to still be out in the grounds when they did.

Cho exchanged hopeless looks with her fellow fighter. "H --how do we get through?" he asked, his Adam's apple bobbing rapidly. There were still students inside, sending spells at the Death Eaters -- but there only seemed to be a few of them. The assault, when it came, would surely breach the defences.

"I don't kn --" At that moment, a bright flash of silver lit up the area around the entrance, making the battlements tremble alarmingly. By its light Cho saw that the Tornados player she'd Stunned was among the Death Eaters present -- although he was moving gingerly, as if his chest was causing him discomfort. No doubt he'd been revived by a colleague and brought along for the fun. Her sudden overwhelming fury at this thought gave her an idea, though.

"Let's get as close as possible," she said urgently. "I daren't use a Disillusionment Charm, we might get cursed by our own side. As soon as the enemy spot us, though, I'm going to create a diversion. Run like hell for the entrance when I do. And keep a Shield Charm up, you'll need it."

"OK. You're the expert."

Cho paused for a moment, taken aback by his simple trust in her. "I am?"

He shrugged. "You were in Dumbledore's Army, weren't you?" He sounded numb from accumulated stresses, and Cho belatedly realised that he probably hadn't had any training for this. That thought didn't help much.

"OK then, ready?"

"Yeah. Oh --" he held out a hand, a gesture that was almost an afterthought -- "Franklyn."

She shook it briefly and found a smile she didn't feel. "Cho."

They set off slowly, and by taking advantage of cover and darkness managed to get a lot closer than Cho had expected before one of the Death Eaters noticed and yelled at them to stop. He aimed his wand in their direction, but before he could do anything Cho stood up, waved her own wand in a loop and bellowed an incantation at the top of her voice. The Death Eater clearly had no idea what the spell was supposed to do, and as he looked around wildly trying to see something happening Franklyn broke into a flat run, closely followed by Cho.

For one appalling moment, as the Death Eater regained his concentration and turned towards them with raised wand, she thought it really hadn't worked -- but her Chinese version of the Descending Spell was just as sluggish here as her English spells had been in China, and as it finally started to take effect large chunks broke away from the already weakened battlements, and brought a pile of rubble down on top of her opponent. Cho and Franklyn were already close enough to the castle to miss the worst of it, and their Shield Charms kept out the rest. There were loud cheers from the small group of students inside as they made it to the entrance.

"Can't keep away from me, eh?" Lee Jordan was there, grinning at her with pride, and Cho grinned right back in relief at seeing a familiar face again.

"You wish. I'm still not sure I've forgiven you for saying I couldn't Seek!"

"Happy to concede the point! Right, you lot!" he added to the remaining defenders. "This is where it gets interesting. Don't get trapped in this corridor when they attack. They'll overwhelm us anyway, so let's pull back and try to pick them off from the balconies! Got that?" There was a chorus of assent. "Good -- uh-oh. Get ready, everyone, here they come!"

Cho soon lost all track of what she was doing again. The Death Eaters now had numbers enough to force their way through, but once they were actually inside the castle the battle degenerated into a series of desperate individual duels in the confined spaces. Cho found herself retreating towards the Entrance Hall, but by the time she got there things were even more chaotic -- curses flying everywhere, suits of armour lashing out at the invaders with ancient swords, portraits yelling at her to watch her back, and peculiar things happening where spells collided. Acromantulas poured through the doorway and carried off Hagrid -- Harry appeared from nowhere and disappeared just as suddenly -- a giant smashed through the upper windows and started trying to grab people -- there were fallen wherever she looked. And then out of nowhere, Voldemort's magnified voice stilled both sides as he called his forces away and delivered an ultimatum that they couldn't accept, nor allow Harry to accept.

The remaining defenders looked at each other and found they had time to think again, to realise they were still alive for the moment, and to register how many people were not.

Cho spent at least thirty minutes sitting slumped against a wall in exhaustion, her mind a near-blank, before she could do anything more than watch people rushing around -- at which point it sunk in that battle would recommence at the end of the hour, unless they were prepared to sacrifice Harry. And since that was not an option, then, well ... the people she knew, most of her friends, and Cho herself, were more likely than not all about to get themselves killed.

If they were lucky.

But it wasn't a useless fight.

It was the end for them all, but Cho found to her wonderment that maybe she was a little braver than she'd thought. Better to be killed here and now than watch in dread while Voldemort steadily crushed opposition on an ever-wider scale, wondering all the time why she hadn't fought before when she had the chance. She tried to reason it out, looking for some small crumb of hope, some positive result that their sacrifice might bring even if Harry couldn't work another miracle. They had certainly weakened the Death Eaters. Other people might take heart and fight now. And maybe, just maybe, the savagery of this open battle might scare other wizarding governments into taking direct action ...

A shadow fell across her. It was Anthony Goldstein, bruised but otherwise unhurt. The expression on his face turned her blood to ice.

Oh no. No, please no, not again ...

"M -- Michael?"

"No, no!" He held up his hands. "He's all ri -- well, he's not all right, but he'll survive. He was pretty badly sliced up by the glass when that giant smashed the windows in. Pomfrey's got him in the hospital wing -- she's fixed the wounds and given him Blood-Replenishing Potions, but he's pretty weak still."

Oh Michael. She leapt up. "I should --"

Anthony caught her arm. "Don't, Cho. Pomfrey wouldn't let you in anyway, she's too busy, and -- well, we've only got about ten minutes left. We should get into position."

"Right. Yes. Where should we go?"

"Entrance hall, I reckon. They'll probably attack there, and at least it'll be quick ... I think this time it's curse to kill."

"You too?"

"If I can. Never tried a Killing Curse before. No time like the present, eh?" He made an attempt at a smile. "Unless Harry can do something, anyway."

日出sunrise

Harry did do something.

It just wasn't what any of them had wanted.

The first intimation of utter disaster was Voldemort's voice echoing through the school once again. The defenders listened in shock as they waited in the Entrance Hall, wands trained on the gaping hole where the doors had been, trying to work up the right frame of mind to cast terrible curses at whatever came through. It was a bombastic voice, telling them lies; lies that Harry was dead, that the battle was lost, that their families would be killed if they didn't surrender immediately. Most people shuddered at that, but Cho felt curiously detached. I don't care what you do to me, she thought manically. You can't get them, you can't, they're thousands of miles away, they're safe ...

Then the enemy came marching out of the Forbidden Forest, and she saw that the voice hadn't been lying.

A triumphant Voldemort, jeering Death Eaters, and Harry -- oh no, no, no no no, no, no -- being carried by a weeping Hagrid. They should have known he'd do that. So brave, and so foolish. And so like him ... She held hands with Anthony and listened with glazed horror and slow-burning fury to Voldemort's exultant speech. Build a new world together? Up yours!

She could escape. She could go back ho -- to China.

Her friends couldn't.

"DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY!" she yelled, all of them echoing Neville's cry of defiance.

And then -- Cho never quite saw how it started -- everything abruptly turned into chaos again. There was shouting from the far side of the castle, on the road to Hogsmeade, and all of a sudden the Death Eaters were scattering, and there were dozens -- no, hundreds -- of people attacking them. Cho couldn't understand what was happening, but she didn't care much. The defenders of Hogwarts looked at each other in exultation.

"Yes!" cried a girl, dancing up and down in front of her.

"We've got help!" yelled Oliver Wood, too close to her ear for comfort.

"Who are they?" asked a boy she didn't know.

"Who cares?" That was Seamus Finnigan, who sounded jubilant.

George Weasley spoke for them all, his voice ugly. "Let's go and get the bastards!"

There was a huge cheer in response to that, and the remaining defenders rushed forward as one to rejoin the fray. This new battle was no less dangerous but somehow much more exhilarating, now that her side had the upper hand. Cho fired off spell after spell at any Death Eater she could see. Many of the new arrivals were in pyjamas or nightgowns, or had obviously thrown on the first clothes they could find, just like herself all those hours ago. They didn't all have great duelling skills, but they had the advantage of surprise and they seriously outnumbered their opponents, which more than made up for it.

Ordinary wizards and witches who had happened to be there at the time. A last-ditch stand that had worked, against all expectations. Cho screamed in delight. When she looked about her she recognised many of these people -- that was Mr Boot, she'd met him once when she visited Terry -- Madam Rosmerta, throwing jinxes in every direction with a kind of fierce relish -- her father, barely holding his own against a desperate-looking Death Eater -- the man behind the counter in Scrivenshaft's who alwa --

DAD?

It couldn't be, he was thousands of miles away -- well, obviously not, he was here, frantically fighting. Unlike his daughter he hadn't been trained at school from an early age and it must have been years ago anyway --

"Stupefy!" Cho returned to her senses and threw the spell as she ran; she didn't care about the rest of the battle, all she wanted to do right now was rescue her father. Maybe it helped that she didn't consciously think about her aim; the spell hit the Death Eater full in the stomach and hurled him backwards into the thick of the fighting, where a passing centaur gave him a kick for good measure. When her father turned to see who his benefactor was, the look of mingled joy, pride and relief on his face nearly broke her.

She wanted to stop right there, to hug him, but the flow of the battle didn't give her the chance. Everyone who could stand was being swept back towards the school now by the throng; her father grabbed her hand and they ran through the crowd, following the fight into the Great Hall, pausing only to curse any of Voldemort's people they saw. All of a sudden the situation seemed to coalesce into two fights in the middle of the room, and then -- Cho's heart leapt, she couldn't believe it -- Harry appeared out of nowhere, miraculously still alive and heroic and fighting. Everyone became very quiet as they realised that the contest between him and Voldemort was about to be finally resolved right here and now, and that the day could yet still be lost if their talisman fell.

And then a wand flew high into the air, bathed by the first rays of the morning sun, and they'd won.

Cho didn't have time to react before she was enfolded in her father's arms. He was hugging her as if he was terrified that she might vanish like a half-remembered dream if he let her go. "Kitten, kitten, you're all right," he murmured over and over. As all the emotions she'd been trying to hold in check throughout the battle flooded over her, she leant into the hug, just letting him hold her like a little girl again while the fact that yes they'd won, they'd WON! sank in. Tears were pouring down her face, but she didn't care whether anyone saw her cry any more.

"How -- how --" She couldn't form a coherent question.

"Ming told us." Dad looked exhausted, but triumphant. "He didn't believe your story, he came and woke us immediately."

"But you came here? But -- I thought you -- you didn't approve?"

"I was wrong," replied her father with a wry smile. "And you didn't pay any attention to what we told you, did you? But it doesn't matter now. Your mother and I talked it over, and we agreed; if our eldest child was risking her life fighting for a cause it would be very wrong not to try to help her."

"Oh, Dad." She rocked in his arms for a minute or two. "How did you get here?"

"Much the same way you did, I expect. A Portkey to London, then I Apparated to Hogsmeade and found your Potions teacher organising a war party. So naturally I joined them."

"Cho ..." The sound of her name spoken in that voice was yet more delight. She turned round and sure enough, Michael was standing there, looking pale and weak but every bit as happy as she felt. She threw herself at him and they kissed fervently, until interrupted by a gentle cough from her father. They pulled apart, embarrassed, but his smile was indulgent.

"Er -- Dad, this is Michael."

"I guessed that."

Michael gulped. "Hi, Mr Chang. Er, sorry I wasn't here before."

"Michael was wounded in the fighting, he's only just got out the hospital wing ..."

"Never mind." Her father's next words made Cho feel prouder than she ever had about anything in her entire life. "You fought for us all, both of you. Thank you."

回归homecoming

"What will you do now?" asked her father later, as they walked along the shores of the lake. It was perhaps the least damaged part of Hogwarts, and thus evoked the fewest unpleasant reminders of the past few hours.

"I ... er ..." Cho scuffed at a stone with her shoe, not meeting his eye. She'd been trying to avoid that question as long as she could, mostly because she wasn't sure what the answer would be. It hadn't come up while they were still in the thick of things -- congratulating Harry (so distracted by the crowd surrounding him, he barely seemed to realise who she was when she hugged him in thanks), finding out who had been killed in the fighting (every name she recognised on the casualty list had been a knife-blow), and hearing reports from the Ministry (the man who'd stood up and organised their battle plans was now acting Minister, as Thicknesse was lying in the Hogwarts hospital wing being gradually de-spined). By now, they were more or less alone. Most people in the castle had drifted off to get some sleep, but then they'd been awake sixteen hours longer than Cho and her father.

"You don't have to decide straight away." Her father didn't try to meet Cho's eye either, but instead looked out over the lake with apparent interest, as if hoping the giant squid might surface and wave a tentacle at them in greeting. "I just wanted you to know that -- that if you prefer it here, I'm sure your mother and I would find that perfectly acceptable."

"You would?" Cho stared.

"Yes." He spoke sadly. "Of course we'd love to have you at home with us, but -- you're all grown up now, kitt -- Cho. I think you've shown me that, and I'm sure you'd like to be with your -- friends."

"For a while, anyway," admitted Cho. "I don't know what I'll want to do in a year, but -- yeah. I'd like to be here, Dad. You and Mum will stay in Guangzhou now?" she added, sure she knew what the answer would be.

"We will. We didn't realise quite how much we'd missed home."

Cho hugged him. After everything that had happened, she could easily handle that. "OK. I'll have to come back for a bit, anyway, while I get my stuff and find somewhere to stay here, then ..."

"I know." He smiled at her. "You will write to us, of course?"

She grinned at him. "You know I will."

***** 完 *****