Ficlet: Where to Next? (neville/cho)
Mar. 15th, 2009 09:04 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
phil-urich.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
rarepair_shortsTitle: Where to Next?
Pairing: Neville/Cho
Prompt: Hear the Silence
Rating: PG
Word Count: 749
Summary:Cho’s last year at Hogwarts ends not with a bang, but a whimper
Author's Notes: thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jtav with the beta and for her catching my logic flaws.
Link to Prompt Table: prompt table
Cho watched as the girls, her roommates for the last seven years at Hogwarts, left the train. The past year had not been a good year, nor had the one before that or the one before that. She’d been popular for two of them, though. In her fifth year, she’d been the girl who dated Cedric, a Hogwarts champion--and for some, a martyr. In her sixth, she was the girl who’d briefly dated Harry Potter, which brought her a brief sort of infamy. No one could decide if she were being stupid, rebellious or if she knew something about the Boy Who Lied that they didn’t. In her seventh year she dated Michael Corner, seen by many as the second coming of Roger Davies, and most of the girls throughout the school audibly wished they were as smart as she was because they were certain she would pass the NEWTs with ease and go on to bigger and better things.
She’d never fully believed the things they said about her, the compliments they gave, yet she couldn’t help but feel hurt when she watched her supposed friends and admirers walk away from her without so much as a goodbye. Weren’t times like these meant to draw friends closer?
She scanned the crowd waiting at the train station and saw her own mother and father standing towards the front. Her father wore a sad smile. She couldn’t help but wave at him despite the solemn feel her last train ride from Hogwart’s. Her father simply nodded in return. Her mother smiled sweetly while she spoke to a woman that Cho recognized as Neville’s grandmother. Next to Neville’s grandmother, was Neville himself, looking confident despite it all, and not for the first time, she wished she had his strength, his goodness.
“Your father’s told me you’ve accepted a position in the Zoning and Regulations Department of the Ministry,” Neville’s grandmother said. The stern affection behind the older woman’s voice reminded her of the times she used to visit Neville and his Gran with her father.
Cho looked at her father, but he responds only with a nod. “Yes ma’am. I’m to start next week.”
“That’s quite an honor, Miss Chang. You won’t be too far away at least.”
Cho saw a quick gleam in the older woman’s hard, brown eyes, but couldn’t interpret it. “Yes, it is, Mrs. Longbottom and no, I won’t be.”
“Good, then. I believe Neville has a gift for you.” That familiar gleam found its way into Mrs. Longbottom’s eyes again and Cho understands it now.
She had hoped that what she had come to think of as the “Big Test” in fifth year had ended Neville’s crush on her. Perhaps it had. He’d never again brought up his feelings for her, but that didn’t mean they didn’t exist, and his grandmother certainly seemed to have a hope that Cho might become Neville’s love.
Now wasn’t the best time to address that, though.
“I thought you might like this,” Neville said, offering her a medium-sized, smartly wrapped silver box with a blue bow on it.
Cho smiled at him and took the gift. She untied the ribbon and opened the box while Neville’s Grandmother made small talk with her parents. Inside was a small flower growing out of an ornately painted pot. She lifted the pot carefully out of the box to look at the designs.
“Dean painted it,” Neville explained.
“It’s quite beautiful,” Cho said as she let her eyes trail across the abstract mural.
“The flower won’t need much water or plant food, just a little sun every now and then.”
Cho placed the flower pot back into the box and set it down before giving him a hug. It had been so long since she’d given anyone a hug, much less Neville. Her chin no longer fit comfortably on his shoulder. Now her head rested on his chest. She wondered at how tall he’d gotten and how she hadn’t noticed in the passage of time how much Neville had grown.
“Write to me, Cho. Just to let me know you’re all right,” he said, his voice no longer overwrought with worry or nerves the way she’d remembered it. It was steady and calm.
“Course, Nev,” she says and really doesn’t mind that she’s tearing up just a little because this could be the last hug she ever receives from a friend again and she’d rather not think about that sort of thing right now.
Pairing: Neville/Cho
Prompt: Hear the Silence
Rating: PG
Word Count: 749
Summary:Cho’s last year at Hogwarts ends not with a bang, but a whimper
Author's Notes: thanks to
jtav with the beta and for her catching my logic flaws. Link to Prompt Table: prompt table
Cho watched as the girls, her roommates for the last seven years at Hogwarts, left the train. The past year had not been a good year, nor had the one before that or the one before that. She’d been popular for two of them, though. In her fifth year, she’d been the girl who dated Cedric, a Hogwarts champion--and for some, a martyr. In her sixth, she was the girl who’d briefly dated Harry Potter, which brought her a brief sort of infamy. No one could decide if she were being stupid, rebellious or if she knew something about the Boy Who Lied that they didn’t. In her seventh year she dated Michael Corner, seen by many as the second coming of Roger Davies, and most of the girls throughout the school audibly wished they were as smart as she was because they were certain she would pass the NEWTs with ease and go on to bigger and better things.
She’d never fully believed the things they said about her, the compliments they gave, yet she couldn’t help but feel hurt when she watched her supposed friends and admirers walk away from her without so much as a goodbye. Weren’t times like these meant to draw friends closer?
She scanned the crowd waiting at the train station and saw her own mother and father standing towards the front. Her father wore a sad smile. She couldn’t help but wave at him despite the solemn feel her last train ride from Hogwart’s. Her father simply nodded in return. Her mother smiled sweetly while she spoke to a woman that Cho recognized as Neville’s grandmother. Next to Neville’s grandmother, was Neville himself, looking confident despite it all, and not for the first time, she wished she had his strength, his goodness.
“Your father’s told me you’ve accepted a position in the Zoning and Regulations Department of the Ministry,” Neville’s grandmother said. The stern affection behind the older woman’s voice reminded her of the times she used to visit Neville and his Gran with her father.
Cho looked at her father, but he responds only with a nod. “Yes ma’am. I’m to start next week.”
“That’s quite an honor, Miss Chang. You won’t be too far away at least.”
Cho saw a quick gleam in the older woman’s hard, brown eyes, but couldn’t interpret it. “Yes, it is, Mrs. Longbottom and no, I won’t be.”
“Good, then. I believe Neville has a gift for you.” That familiar gleam found its way into Mrs. Longbottom’s eyes again and Cho understands it now.
She had hoped that what she had come to think of as the “Big Test” in fifth year had ended Neville’s crush on her. Perhaps it had. He’d never again brought up his feelings for her, but that didn’t mean they didn’t exist, and his grandmother certainly seemed to have a hope that Cho might become Neville’s love.
Now wasn’t the best time to address that, though.
“I thought you might like this,” Neville said, offering her a medium-sized, smartly wrapped silver box with a blue bow on it.
Cho smiled at him and took the gift. She untied the ribbon and opened the box while Neville’s Grandmother made small talk with her parents. Inside was a small flower growing out of an ornately painted pot. She lifted the pot carefully out of the box to look at the designs.
“Dean painted it,” Neville explained.
“It’s quite beautiful,” Cho said as she let her eyes trail across the abstract mural.
“The flower won’t need much water or plant food, just a little sun every now and then.”
Cho placed the flower pot back into the box and set it down before giving him a hug. It had been so long since she’d given anyone a hug, much less Neville. Her chin no longer fit comfortably on his shoulder. Now her head rested on his chest. She wondered at how tall he’d gotten and how she hadn’t noticed in the passage of time how much Neville had grown.
“Write to me, Cho. Just to let me know you’re all right,” he said, his voice no longer overwrought with worry or nerves the way she’d remembered it. It was steady and calm.
“Course, Nev,” she says and really doesn’t mind that she’s tearing up just a little because this could be the last hug she ever receives from a friend again and she’d rather not think about that sort of thing right now.
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-16 06:50 am (UTC)Why are all of Cho's friends cold to her though? Are they just upset about Dumbledore?
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Date: 2009-03-16 11:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-16 04:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-16 11:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-16 06:43 pm (UTC)I liked it; it was very touching and said a lot for being so short.
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Date: 2009-03-16 11:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-17 09:16 pm (UTC)Michael Corner, "the second coming of Roger Davies" LOL
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Date: 2009-03-19 03:08 am (UTC)I'm glad that description of Neville's height worked out. I originally had her chin resting on his stomach and that just seemed awkward, plus he'd either be extremely tall or she'd be very short.