Author: Thalia Kendall
Category: Drama, Romance
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling. Characters and situations are used without permission, no infringement is intended.
Summary: The war is over, technically. Harry defeated Voldemort, but then disappeared to whereabouts unknown, leaving behind a wizarding Britain that still needs to recover from the war and deal with the fallout. Amidst this all, a young Auror by the name of Roger Davies was hexed at close range during a raid and because of subsequent injuries, released from the Auror's Guild. Fate has it that he runs into the father of an old housemate, who offers him a new job managing an apartment complex in Hogsmeade-- an old building called Euterpe's Corner.
Author's Notes: A huge thank you to Kaerra for the feedback and the
beta for this chapter, and for helping me with the exposition (my least
favourite part of writing!). In this chapter, we meet our "heroine"
*snerk*. One of them, at any rate. Or perhaps a few of them. This chapter is
dedicated to Kaerra for all of her help and input. It would have sucked
without you!
Disclaimer: I still don't own Roger Davies. Boo.
* * *
The young woman who stepped off the train at King's Cross was fey and lovely, with raven hair and delicate features. She lugged along a small valise as she made her way through the crowd, a petite, graceful figure in sunglasses and khakis. Quietly, she made her way out of the station, walking up one street and down another and disappearing around a corner.
The sound of Apparation was barely noticeable in the middle of the Leaky Cauldron as she removed her sunglasses in the darkened pub, looking around for familiar faces. Spotting a trio of former housemates, she made her way over with a smile on her face.
The group sitting at a table nursing butterbeers and chips was in the middle of conversation, but one of the boys in the group, a tall fellow with a cowlick in his sandy hair, looked up and grinned broadly before striding over to the newcomer. "Well blimey if it isn't Cho Chang!" He boomed out, his voice tinged with an Irish brogue, before he reached over and gave her a warm hug, twirling her around for a moment and inciting a laughing protest. "It's been years since I've seen YOU."
"Kevin, how nice to see you too," Cho grinned at the young man who'd taken over as Quidditch captain after she'd left. She didn't have a chance to get in another word before his two companions recognized her as well, the female jumping up with a bit of a shriek. Quite a few shared embraces later, Cho sat down with the others at the table, all smiles as she set down her valise.
"You're all looking well," Cho said, gazing from one familiar face to another. "I've been... away. It has been interesting, doing a university course in China, but I must say that I'm glad to be back. And it's very fortunate that I've run into housemates on my first day, too!"
Tom strode over then, delivering another bottle of butterbeer and another basket of chips. Cho glanced around the pub, which-- despite the war that had come and gone-- still seemed mostly the same. It was somewhat comforting. "You must all catch me up on what has transpired while I was gone. What HASN'T been printed in either The Prophet or The Quibbler, at any rate."
The three glanced at each other, and Terry Boot started off as though by unseen agreement. "Well, about a month ago, Manda got herself engaged. To a Slytherin!"
"Now THAT'S an interesting bit of news," Cho remarked, raising her eyebrows. 'Manda' was Amanda Bradley, who had been a Chaser on the House team a year older than herself back in the day. "If I remember correctly, Manda went to work for the Department of Magical Games and Sports, right?"
"Indeed," Su Li took up the gossip narrative. "She, Katie Bell and Leanne Harper were out on an all girls' night at Club Siren and Vittorio Derrick was on shift that night as a bouncer."
"Vittorio Derrick?" Now both of Cho's eyebrows raised to her hairline. "I thought he was gay!"
"Apparently not," Kevin smirked. "We were all at the bridal shower a week ago. He couldn't keep his hands to himself, that one."
Cho shook her head wryly, trying to adjust her mind around the new knowledge. Engaged! It seemed just yesterday that she and Manda had been in the Ravenclaw locker room borrowing each other's shampoo and hair brush while complaining about Slytherin tactics on the pitch. "What else is new with the old team?"
"Ackerley went into Pro Quidditch, plays for the Appleby Arrows," Su remarked. "Seems to be enjoying himself. Made Witch Weekly's Hot Blokes list one week, if I recall correctly. The last wildly amusing rumour has been that he's fathered an illegitimate child with Eunice Murray, which is utter shite because everyone knows that she likes women and moreover, is old enough to be his mum. Chambers..." she paused, her usually mischievous face rather solemn. "I'm sure you've heard of what happened to Chambers."
"Yes," Cho said softly, her own face downcast. Jeremy Chambers had been at some sort of press interview or another when the building that he'd been in was blown up by renegade Death Eaters. He had not survived. "He was a good bloke."
For a few moments, no one spoke. And then Kevin broke the tense, heavy silence. "He lived in the same building that we live in now," he told Cho. "Roomed with Zacharias Smith-- Chaser from Hufflepuff, I'm sure you remember. It's funny... Carmichael's da owns the building. Tried to manage it for a while too, but I suppose we drove him out."
"You WERE always rather rowdy," Cho said in a mock-severe voice. Kevin's blue eyes widened almost comically.
"ME? Nay, 'twas Su who scared 'im off, little she-devil in disguise!"
"Thank you for your compliment," Su deadpanned, before once again taking up the narrative. "But yes. Carmichael's dad found that managing the apartment complex was rather taxing on his patience and too time-consuming for his sanity. And therefore, he appointed a new landlord for us all. And since you were asking about the old team..."
"Yes?" Cho frowned. It seemed almost as though the three were reluctant to tell her some piece of information or another. She felt a sense of trepidation.
"It's Roger Davies," Terry finished, before continuing in a somewhat bracing voice. "Interesting having him as a landlord. Almost like the old Common Room again."
Cho's eyes widened in shock, and her fingers, holding a chip, froze on the way to her mouth. "Roger?"
It was no secret that they'd been close back in the school days. Roger had been a bit of a mentor to her when she first started school, even though he was just a year older. He'd been notoriously protective of her when she started Quidditch. When she'd broken her arm in a particularly vicious game against Slytherin at the tender age of twelve, he'd been quite a bit more frightened than she had been. One night, she'd kissed him on a dare when she was fourteen. It had been her first kiss, not that she'd ever told anyone such. There had been blushing on both sides, and neither of them had ever mentioned it. And then a year later he'd been going out with Fleur and she with Cedric and it hadn't ever really occurred to them to be anything other than friends because really, they knew each other far too well to date, in the logic of sixteen. Cho knew instantly that something had happened to Roger... even if the innocuous-seeming job of being a landlord at an apartment complex didn't seem all that bad. A memory surfaced then, of him twirling her around in uncharacteristically wild, exuberant joy after finding out that he'd been accepted into Auror training.
"He... he'd been working for the Magical Law Enforcement Squad," she murmured, almost to herself, even as she raised questioning eyes to the other three. "H-how is it that he's your landlord, then?"
Su, with the air of getting over something unpleasant, met her eyes. "He was hit during a raid," the younger woman said softly. "At close range. He would have died if he hadn't managed to duck mostly out of the way."
"But the curse hit his wand arm," Terry continued soberly. "Wrecked it. The mediwizards did the best they could, and he can do most things now... but he'll never duel again, and he no longer plays Quidditch."
The chip fell from Cho's nerveless fingers back onto the plate. Roger Davies without Quidditch! Her mind flitted back to that day that he'd been accepted and the memory of laughing with him as he twirled her around the common room.
She was a small woman, but he probably wouldn't be able to lift her any more. Not that it mattered any, and she was getting ahead of herself. She had not even seen him yet. Kevin, Terry and Su were looking at her expectantly, a bit sympathetically. They knew how close she'd been to Roger, and now, they were undoubtedly waiting for her to say something brave and encouraging about his current situation.
Cho cleared her throat, her plans to stay at the Leaky Cauldron for a fortnight or so until she'd found a job vanishing in an instant. "C-can I go with you three, then? To wherever it is that you live? I want to see him."
The three exchanged glances, and it was Kevin who spoke, his expression open and kind. "Aye, of course. You can kip with Su for the night if you'd like."
Su nodded in agreement and gave her friend a slight smile. "He'll be glad to see you again."