Disclaimer: The characters and things that seem familiar are owned by JKR. Other things are created by me (although they may be influenced by other stuff, but nothing consciously that I can think of). I'm not making any money from this (unfortunately), so enjoy.

Snowflakes and Tea

Prologue

Harry was sitting in a café that had recently opened in Diagon Alley. It was the middle of February and although it was snowing gently outside, it was pleasantly warm inside where he had been sitting with Hermione, Ron and Ginny for the last hour. He had long since stopped paying attention to what was being said. Hermione and Ron's argument had become a familiar, comforting background noise that he was used to, and Ginny rarely said anything. That was why when Ginny spoke, Harry's inattention ended abruptly and he turned to face her.

"What?" He said, and he cringed because his voice sounded groggy as if he had just woken up. Ginny just smiled sweetly, and asked him if he wanted another drink again. He shook his head and went back to a lack of attention, his mind wondering between how big Teddy had gotten, how scary Andromeda was and wondering how he was doing in his Auror training.

It was in the middle of this confused jumble of thoughts that Hermione ceased arguing. Ron, always slower to pick up on these subtleties, continued ranting in his oblivious way but Harry followed Hermione's line of sight and came to the front door of the café. The door had opened, allowing some snow to float inside and framed by the doorway was Cho, her hair whipping around her face because of the wind. All at once, Harry felt something twisting and writhing inside his stomach uncomfortably.

It was a few moments later that Ginny noticed both Hermione and Harry staring at something. She turned around and immediately narrowed her eyes, curling her fingers into a vicious claw. As Ginny watched her, Cho turned around, laughing. Her eyes seemed to fall immediately on the table at which they sat, eyes widening in surprise. Pleasant or unpleasant, Harry couldn't decide, but he felt his face growing warm all the same. Just as suddenly, he turned pale when he saw Michael Corner enter the café. It may have been three years since Voldemort had died, but he still despised Michael. It was obvious, however, that Cho didn't share this dislike of Michael. If her laughter and their comfortable stance was anything to go by, they were very close indeed. A scowl settled on Harry's face as he thought about this.

The others weren't happy to see Cho and Michael either. Ron had finally realised that nobody was paying attention to him, and he had turned around to find his baby sister's former boyfriend standing in the doorway. His old over-protective feelings were roused and he was more than ready to hex Michael into oblivion on the least provocation. In fact, he was tempted to do it even if there was no provocation. Hermione, instead, had focussed on Cho and realised quickly that there was still some sort of tension between Harry and Cho. It was extremely unlikely that it was attraction and far more likely to do with the awful way they had ended things and had never patched up afterwards.

'It would be so much better if they just talked to each other and became friends again', Hermione thought crossly, but she wasn't willing to invite Cho over. She wasn't sure if it should come from Harry and Cho themselves and this might be pushing. That, and Ginny would probably curse her beyond recognition if she called Cho over.

Ginny and Harry had resumed dating the day after Harry had finally killed Voldemort, and Hermione had been ecstatic about it. It was very slowly and almost subconsciously that she began to realise that maybe they weren't the best couple in the world. This was about a year later, and when she first became conscious about this feeling, she tried to analyse why this could be. She began to observe them very closely – noticing how Ginny seemed close at hand whenever Harry talked to a girl. She realised how Harry talked far more to her and Ron than Ginny. This had taken her quite a few months to slowly understand but after she had realised this, she was at a stand-still. What in the world was she supposed to do? A year and a half later, she still had no idea what to do. Ron was too defensive of his sister to discuss it seriously with Hermione, Ginny got very aggressive about it and Harry, as usual, was oblivious to it. It was this aggressive side to Ginny that made Hermione hesitate to call Cho over.

She bit her lip, but as it turned out, she didn't have to do anything. Cho nudged Michael and nodded towards the table they were all sitting at. Michael's smile seemed to instantaneously disappear as he saw them. He turned to Cho, as if looking to her for guidance, but walked with assurance behind Cho as she made her way towards the table. Hermione's hand tightened around her wand unconsciously, but had she realised it, she would have been unable to say what she would have used the wand for.

Cho stopped by the table and smiled a small, tight, nervous smile. "Hi." She said, with a familiar Scottish twang. "How are you guys doing?"

If it was possible, then Ginny's eyes definitely had a murderous sparkle in them. She was too busy obsessing over Cho to notice that Michael was just as obsessed with Ginny, but Ron wasn't. His ears turned slightly red as he tried to resist the urge to hex Michael. Nobody seemed ready to reply, so Hermione spoke, her voice higher pitched than normal. "Oh, we're all...you know...good." There was a silent pause before Hermione spoke again. "So...how are you?"

"I'm good too." Cho looked uncertain and nervous. She glanced at Harry and then looked away swiftly. She turned to Michael. "We should really find a table to sit at. Bye." Another nervous smile and Cho walked away with Michael. Hermione thought that she heard Harry release a big breath – almost a sigh – but she couldn't be sure. She continued to stare at where Cho had stood. Things she hadn't noticed at the time seemed to be coming into focus. Her nose was bright pink from the cold. Her lips were dry and chapped, probably from the cold weather. There were snowflakes in her hair, thrown into relief by the black colour of her hair. But mostly, she realised that Cho had been nervous and awkward but she had also been mature and brave. Rather than avoiding the situation, she had tried to face it. 'Without much of a result', admitted Hermione, but it was more than Harry had been willing to do. She smiled suddenly. There was a stifled tension in the air, but at least Cho was trying to clear up her part of the stifled tension. It was a start.

Author's note: I wrote this as a challenge/deal. On , a fan of Harry/Cho told me that if I wrote a Harry/Cho for them, they would write a Draco/Pansy for me, so of course I agreed. I feel like this prologue is stinted, but I'm going to take my time over the next chapter. I hope to make this multi-chaptered but I'm not entirely sure how long it will be. It will be a Harry/Cho though, but I want to delve into the other characters a lot more, including Ginny. (I have an idea about why she might be possessive and insecure.)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.