Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue, don't ask, don't tell.

Pour Laura, mon cygne.

"C6H12O6"

Poor Cedric. He had always been hopeless at Potions.

Of course there was the mixing of ingredients in a cauldron, brewing them to make a mixture that does something magical. But you still had to understand the logic of how things work in the world. There was quite a lot of Biology in Potions.

Cedric's brilliance in Herbology helped. He liked the life in Herbology, watching things grow... But when it came down to the bare facts, like in Potions, he was lost. He wanted to see the life in everything. The poetry.

Cho didn't need poetry. Facts suited her just fine.

But she couldn't deny that she enjoyed it, this love of the world's beauty. She loved it vicariously through his love. She loved his reactions to little things, finding beauty. Like when she was trying to explain the concept of Half-life to him.

"It's Radioactive Dating. Most elements have radioactivity to them, and radioactive elements decay over time. Take living or once-living organisms, for example. We we're alive, we take in carbon-14 because it's in the atmosphere. Carbon-14 decays to nitrogen-14, and when we're dead, we obviously can't take in any more carbon-14. So, really, we can figure out how old something is by comparing amounts of carbon-14 and nitrogen-14 in a sample—"

"So death is just a change of ratios," he said so simply that Cho stopped. There was something so profound, so poetic in the way that he said it that she remembered it still now, especially now.

"...Yeah," she agreed, nearly breathless.

But the moment that still got to her, still gave her that weakening feeling that went straight to her bones, was the moment that she had peered over to steal a glance at his notes on the carbon-oxygen cycle. She'd explained to him how C6H12O6 and O2 are converted during cellular respiration to CO2 and H2O, and then CO2 and H2O back again to C6H12O6 and O2 during photosynthesis. He'd looked up at her.

"C6H12O6?" he'd repeated.

"...Yes, it's the molecule composed of six carbon atoms, twelve hydrogen atoms, and six oxygen atoms."

"But what is it?"

"...It's... it's glucose... carbohydrates... it's, you know, sugar."

He'd smiled. "C-H-O. Sugar." And he'd written something down.

"Well, the glucose, you know, organisms need it for energy..." she'd murmured, feeling heat rise in her face. Yes, she knew the atomic notation spelled her name, but... it was silly... it wasn't important...

What was important was the feeling that had welled up inside her and welled up inside her still at the memory though he no longer took in carbon-14. That feeling that came over her as she peered over at his notes when he wasn't looking—oh, but why did she have to steal the look? Why couldn't she have looked at it and had him see her look? Had him see how much it meant to her? Why couldn't it have became some deeply emotional moment for both of them, bringing them into an embrace? Why couldn't she have kissed him then, kissed him while she had the chance? Had he even known...?

She read, among the notation and equations, written in a little heart he'd drawn,

My sweet, sweet Cho

Me