Genre: Romance, Hurt/Comfort
Pairing: S. Shunpike, C. Chang
Series: Harry Potter
Rating: T
Word Count: 1,390
Length: One-Shot
Warnings: None
Prompt: Odd Couple Contest; stop, quilt, pregnant
Cho had no idea where to go from this point.
She shuffled her bag further up her shoulder, adjusting it as she walked. She wandered the silent streets of her small suburban neighborhood of London, the few lamplights there were flickering with an odd clicking sound. It disturbed the silence that Cho basked in, much to her irritation.
She finally came across the rusty, metal bench by the park, sitting on it with a sigh of relief. Her hand reached timidly around and rested on her protruding midsection, a pinched look crossing her face. She moved forward slightly, relieving the pressure on her stomach and leaning her head against the back of the bench, rubbing small circles on her tummy when she felt a flutter.
She'd gotten used to it now; the sudden movement and all. She registered how much of predicament she was in – stranded, without a place to stay, all while being a few days more than seventeen weeks pregnant. She couldn't believe her parents had kicked her out, but, well, there was nothing she could do for it now, was there?
She could do no magic, and whetever magic she did do was accidental. She'd lost her handle on it when her pregnancy had begun to progress, but she tried the best she could to ream it in. It was only a matter of time before the Ministry began to send her letters, accusing her of repeated underage use of magic. They'd know when they saw her, however, that it was not at all purposeful.
She let out a sigh as the frustrated tears came, not even bothering to brush them away. There was no one around to see her and besides, what did their opinions matter? She tapped her foot on the ground impatiently as she thought about how she could get out of this.
She didn't even have an owl she could use! Her parents had refused to let her bring him home, so he was still in the owlery at Hogwarts, being fed by a house elf she'd befriended. She sat there for a good amount of time, simply staring into space as the horizon slowly turned pink, then to yellow, the sun beginning to rise.
She stood up, feeling restless once more and she knew that it couldn't be good to be doing this to her child; moving almost constantly and getting small amounts of sleep. She was just rising from her seat, throwing her bag back over her shoulder when she heard the familiar voice of one Stanley Shunpike, effectively scaring the wits out of her.
"If it isn't little Misses Cho Chang," he remarked, grinning at her as he usually did. Cho's face lit up with a smile as she turned around, stopping when Stan's eyes came to land on her stomach. She was relieved when he said nothing, though, only reaching down and taking her bag for her before ushering her onto the Knight Bus.
She sent a polite smile at Ernie, as always, before slowly shuffling to the most stable-looking bed that Stan was gesturing at. "Sit down," he said, grabbing her shoulders to steady her as Ernie continued on at his usual reckless pace. Cho did as she was asked, reaching awkwardly into her back pocket for the fourteen Sickles she owed.
Stan placed her bag on the bed, grabbing her wrist as she went to grab the money. Cho looked up at him and at the sly grin she saw, flushed. "Oh, no, Stan, I couldn't," she muttered quietly as she realized what he was no doubt thinking.
Stan pushed her hand away gently, winking at her as he grabbed her shoulders once again – purely out of habit, Ernie taking a particularly sharp turn. He realeased her after a moment, still grinning at her. "Just a lil' secret 'tween you and me, yeah?" he said, leaving her no time for response as he saundered off to help two elderly wizards exit the bus.
She smiled. He always knew how to make her feel better. They always seemed to know when she needed somewhere to go; Ernie and Stan. When she got into arguments with her parents on occasion, and was to told to leave to house for the night, they always knew when to show up.
Over the years, she'd grown close to Stan, and was glad to be able to see him again. She'd thought of him as a bit of a dunce at first, but he was actually quite smart when he knew what he was talking about, not to mention good company.
She leaned back on the bed and frowned. Was she bad for thinking these things so soon after Cedric? No. Definitely not. She wasn't. Cedric had specifically told her that it had meant nothing of romantic value to him, and she respected that and had complied. She was not in the wrong. But he was gone now, having left her with a...permanent reminder of their one night together.
She hissed in suprise and rubbed her stomach at what she interpreted as an irritated nudge, whispering quietly to her baby. "I might not have loved your daddy, but I do love you, 'kay? Don't take it that way..." She might have seemed off her rocker but she honestly couldn't have cared at that point.
She looked up as a few biscuits and a small cup of hot chocolate were shoved in her line of sight, taking them from the now solemn-looking Stan. She quickly drank, more thirsty than she'd believed. She nibbled at the cookies as Stan sat down beside her, hand on his chin that he leant on his knee. She'd seen this coming, but that didn't prepare her very much for the discussion.
"Where's the dad?" he asked, finally turning to look her in the eye. She swallowed the lump that formed instinctively in her thoat, looking away.
"Dead," she whispered. She heard Stan's sharp intake of breath and refused to turn and look at him. She knew it would come to him as a surprise. "We weren't very close, Cedric Diggory and I," she said, voice back to a somewhat normal volume. She felt him straighten beside her.
"Cho...," he began, but she cut him off, choosing to continue with her explanation. She didn't know why, but she felt like she owed it to him. An explanation. It was something much more serious to owe than Sickles.
"We had a one-night stand," she started, blunt as ever. She knew he would have heard of the whole charade with the Triwizard Tournament, so she continued on. "The night before the third Task, actually. He explicitly mentioned that I should not, under any circumstances, become romantically involved with him. I didn't. But...," she paused again, staring at the rapidly moving streets of London. Another swallow.
"He was murdered, but I can't help but feel angry at having to deal with this by myself." She bit her lip and gestured down at her growing stomach, rubbing the tiniest of circles with her index finger. Quite the silence ensued, the only sounds being the slight snoring of someone on another bed and sliding objects above when Ernie got a little careless.
She finally looked over at Stan when he moved, standing directly in front of her, steadying himself against the movement of the bus with practiced ease. He reached down and placed his hand on the top of her head, grinning like mad all of a sudden. "If you think you're alone, you don't know much." He pulled a gray quilt around her shoulders, leaning in and giving her a kiss on the cheek when she least expected it. As he walked away, Cho's grin spread to match his.
Maybe she wasn't as alone as she thought.