"Harry's here!"

"Harry Potter?"

"The Harry Potter!"

Whispers floated up and down the train. All the passengers were bustling with excitement. So few had actually met the Boy Who Lived.

Cho Chang had. She held her trunk close to her chest and tried to squeeze down the aisle unnoticed. She hated hearing his name. It brought back the old school gossip. Things her friends never knew she heard them saying.

"She let him go?"

"What an idiot. And for a dead guy too!"

"Cho really missed out, if only she'd seen his potential!"

Her mother's words had been the harshest.

"You never deserved either of them anyway. They were just dying to get away." It was almost laughable, it was so cruel.

The carriage shook and Cho bounced from wall to wall trying to keep her balance. She needed to find a seat fast. If only to keep from falling. And so I don't run into him, Cho tried not to think.

Cho glanced through each carriage she walked by. She did a double-take on every pair of glasses. Finally she found an entirely empty batch of seats.

The young woman slouched into the bench and threw her bags to the ground. She breathed a sigh of relief. Traveling should not be this stressful for her.

Just being should not be this stressful. It had been over seven years, far too long to be looking over her shoulder for him.

It had been a short fling. What ifs should have been amusing at most. Not that mix of anticipation and dread that crept into her stomach every time she saw a pair of round glasses.

Maybe it wouldn't have been as big a deal if he stopped showing up in her dreams.

"Are these seats taken?" A little girl's voice snapped Cho back to reality. Cho Chang shook her head and the tiny redhead slipped into the booth across from Cho. Her little legs swung back and forth nervously. "I'm hiding!" she giggled.

"Oh?" Cho smiled. She used to be full of energy like that. "What are you hiding from?"

"My brothers. They're nasty!" She didn't seem to be serious.

Cho chuckled. "Most boys are."

"That's what daddy says!"

"Then your daddy's a very smart man."

"He is! Are you smart? You look smart."

"Why thank you, I certainly try to be. I bet you're pretty smart yourself."

"You're pretty like my mommy. I bet your kids have a smart daddy! Is he here?" She giggled. The girl stuck out her hand. "I'm Lily. I'm five!"

Cho had a soft spot for the transparent ways of a child. "No, no. There's no daddy. I'm Cho Chang." She shook Lily's hand.

Lily bent over in laughter. "That's a funny name!"

Cho just laughed along with her. "So I've heard."

"Lily! Lily!" The female voice sounded vaguely familiar to Cho.

Lily started squirming. "That's my mommy!"

"Well, you don't want her to be worried do you?"

"Oh…" The thought had never occurred to Lily. "No!" She called out the carriage door. "Mommy, mommy! I'm here!"

An older red head poked her head into the room. "Lily, you can't run off like that. I'm sorry miss, was she bothering you?"

"Oh no, she's so-" And then they recognized each other.

"Cho! It's so great to see you!" Ginny stooped in for a hug. Cho Chang stiffly returned the motion. But where there was one-

"Lily!" A voice called from down the corridor.

"I found her Harry!" Ginny called back.

The burning sensation started before Cho had even laid her eyes on him.

There he was. Harry Potter. She didn't blush. She wasn't embarrassed or angry. It was just…surreal. She was frozen but from inside it felt like her whole body was buzzing.

"Oh, hello Cho Chang. How have you been?"

Cho found it difficult to open her mouth. "Great."

"Great! Well, we better get back to our seats. Let's catch up some time." It was an empty promise.

"Bye Ms. Cho Chang!" Lily filed out after her parents, waving goodbye.

And the Cho was alone in her cart again.