the swan exchange; c. chang & f. delacour

three!

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Before Cedric's death, Cho had always had the most vivid dreams, but in the past year, her sleep had been poor and dreamless.

But last night had been an exception. After packing and organizing her trunk, she had fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, and had instantly been greeted with one.

She didn't remember at all what it was about, but it had been a good enough one that she woke up smiling, so that had to count for something.

Cho nearly tripped down the staircase as she was trying to recall the details of said dream, but she had always been terrible at remembering them, so it really wasn't working out.

It didn't really bother her much, so she pushed it to the back of her mind, thinking instead of the letter that she might get that day from Fleur.

She was oddly excited about it, and she hoped that it would arrive when she was in the Great Hall for her breakfast, as that would make her favorite meal of the day that much better.

Cho could finally see the double doors of the Great Hall from there, so she quickened her pace.

It felt odd to move around Hogwarts without her robes, no matter how many times she had done it over weekends.

Entering the Great Hall, she felt a little off balance when she saw the loads of people there already.

Shaking it off, she found a spot at the Ravenclaw table, and she didn't realize Marietta was across from her until she spoke.

"Morning Cho. You're up later than usual."

Cho shrugged. "I got to the Common Room way later than I thought, it's not that odd." She reached towards the pancakes, piling about five onto her plate.

"I heard about that." Marietta smirked. "And I heard Michael Corner's name in there somewhere."

"So?" Cho could feel her cheeks heat up, and she wished she didn't blush so easily. She grabbed the syrup to distract herself, drowning her breakfast with finesse.

"Nothing, I just thought it was interesting. That's all."

There was a pause as Marietta took a bite of her sausage, but then she snapped her fingers, causing Cho to nearly spill the orange juice all over herself.

"Right, so the post came by. I saved your letter for you, so here you go. Whoever wrote to you has the most atrocious handwriting." She made a face as she passed it over.

Cho dropped her forkful of pancake to accept the letter, murmering a thank you before gently opening it.

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Dear Cho,

I am very happy to hear you are doing all right! You must be very strong, because I do not think I would be at the same level you are at right now.

Anyway, it was nice to hear back from you so soon. Most of the people I write are terrible at responding, especially my parents. They are almost as flighty as me, which is certainly saying a lot.

I will warn you now, I have never been very good at conversation or letter writing, so if I am doing this wrong, I apologize.

I also apologize once again if my English is incorrect, I am still working on it.

Now I only talked to you a little at Hogwarts, so I do not know much about you.

Here is a little about me...

I would like to be an Auror, and I have been studying and practicing every day for weeks.

On a completely related note, I strongly dislike studying.

I have not been on a broomstick since I had an accident on one when I was fifteen.

My favorite person in the world is probably my little sister. I find her impossible to dislike.

I adore socks and I haven't gone around without them for a very long time.

And I have an addiction to Ice Mice, though I do not get them very often over here.

I realized while writing this that I am not a very interesting person, unfortunately.

Well, I'd better go. I always need more sleep, and it's getting a bit harder to keep my eyes open. Bye!

-Fleur

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Fleur's handwriting was messy and some words were sloppily corrected, but Cho couldn't help but feel extremely pleased while reading it.

She could hardly believe she wanted to actually get to know her. If Fleur thought that she herself was boring, Cho didn't know how she could be seen as interesting.

She was eager to write back, but she had pancakes that were calling to her, and she was sure that Fleur would understand.

Putting the letter back into the envelope and pocketing it, Cho dove right into her pancakes, smiling.

And after that, she was in a carriage bound for the train, pretending to listen to her friends fit in their chatter before they were restricted to owling for a few months.

And when she was finally at her home, she didn't unpack once she got to her room. Instead, she dropped her trunk on the floor and went straight to her desk, never having been more eager to pick up a quill.

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hey, thanks so much for reading and stuff! sorry if the letter bit was crappy, I think that'll get better as time goes on, so yeah. thank you!!